By Adedapo Adesanya
The House of Representatives has passed a resolution to investigate the mass retrenchment in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The motion was passed at an emergency session on Wednesday to commemorate 25 years of Nigeria’s unbroken democracy since May 1999.
Last week, at least 200 officials of the CBN were reportedly relieved of their duties. This is an addition to the long list of ongoing disengagements in the apex bank this year alone.
This adds to the list of 117 staff sacked by the bank between March 15 and April 11, 2024.
The termination of appointments affects directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, principal managers, senior managers and lower-ranking staff, some of which were believed to be aligned with the embattled former CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele.
A member of the House, Mr Jonathan Gaza said he was “worried that this retrenchment without any fair hearing in the last few years without any fair hearings or panels or criteria spelt out could cause the nation a lot in settlement. Terminating appointments arbitrarily will amount to killing the morale of junior staff not knowing what their fate would be”.
The House thereafter mandated the committee the Committee on Banking Regulations to look into the reforms of the apex bank that warranted the CBN to downsize its staff strength.
The CBN under the current leadership of Mr Yemi Cardoso had also in January moved some departments of the apex bank from Abuja to Lagos to increase operational efficiency and reduce operating costs.