Cardoso’s ethnic cleansing gambit at CBN: With the whimsical sack of Dr. Ozoemena S. Nnaji, Director, Statistics; Chibuike D. Nwaegerue, Director, other Financial Institutions Supervision; Chibuzo A. Efobi, Director, Payments System Management; Paulinus Eze, Director, Security Services and Nkiru Asiegbu, Director, Special Duties, there is no director of Igbo extraction left at the CBN contrary to the dictates of the Federal Character Principle of fairness and equity in the distribution of public posts and socio-economic infrastructures among the various federating units of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This level of ethnic cleansing in a public institution is raising eyebrows.
By Emma Ogbuehi
When the news filtered out on Friday, May 24, 2024 that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had laid off about 200 of its staff, not much meaning was read into it by the public.
The sack letter issued by the Human Resources Department of the country’s apex bank said the sack was in line with the policy of the Yemi Cardoso-led new management team to re-organise the organisation for effective operations.
The generic letter which was signed by Muhammad Abba, Director, Human Resources, read: “The new strategic direction of the Bank has been widely publicised. In line with our new mission and vision, the Bank is currently undergoing a significant organisational and human capital restructuring process.
“As a result of this review, I have been directed to notify you that your services will not be required with effect from Friday, 24th May 2024.
“Your final entitlements will be calculated and paid to you in due course. Thank you.”
- The terse generic disengagement letter
That was about the third time the CBN was embarking on mass retrenchment of staff. Between March 15 and April 11, 2024, over 117 staff were sacked without any cogent reason other than the nebulous need to reorganize the Bank. Also in February, the CBN redeployed 1,500 staff from the Abuja headquarters to Lagos.
Mass purge of CBN staff from the Southeast
But as cogent as the reason advanced by the Bank may seem on the face value, murmurs of mass purge of staff from particular ethnicities and religious beliefs became rife when the names of those sacked became known.
A staff who pleaded anonymity told TheNiche early this week that the mass retrenchment was targeted at mostly the Southeast and some Christian minority communities in the North.
“What is going on at the CBN which started since March/April is a clear and brazen case of ethnic purge. There is a clear case of ethnic bias against the Southeast,” our source said.
READ ALSO: CBN fires 200 staff members
“What is going on in the name of organisational and human capital restructuring is nothing but a grand design to flush out the Igbo out of the CBN. Majority of those who were asked to go last Friday are staff from the Southeast, some of whom were the best staff of the Bank,” our source further said.
Tsunami at the directorate cadre
TheNiche investigations revealed that the CBN used to have 29 directors out of which a total of 16 have been sacked unceremoniously in the last two months including the entire five directors of Igbo extraction.
The latest batch in the series of the now-weekly disengagements on Friday also included hundreds of deputy directors, assistant directors, principal managers, senior managers, and other categories of staff.
Of the 29 directors, four according to TheNiche findings – Benjamin Nnadi, Director, Reserve Management; Clement Buari, Director, Strategy Management; Elizabeth Fasoranti, Director, Branch Operations; and Mohammed Tumala, Director, Monetary Policy – retired normally on attaining the statutory retirement age of 60.
Out of the remaining 25 directors, five – Dr. Ozoemena S. Nnaji, Director, Statistics; Chibuike D. Nwaegerue, Director, other Financial Institutions Supervision; Chibuzo A. Efobi, Director, Payments System Management; Paulinus Eze, Director, Security Services and Nkiru Asiegbu, Director, Special Duties – all of Igbo extraction were sacked in one fell swoop, without any reason.
The implication is that right now, there is no director of Igbo extraction working with the CBN contrary to the dictates of the Federal Character Principle of fairness and equity in the distribution of public posts and socio-economic infrastructures among the various federating units of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
A similar fate also befell directors from the South-South where four out of five – Samuel Okojere, Director, Banking Services; Joseph Omayoku, Director, Governors Department; Dr. Maureen Chukwurah, Director, Medical Services; and Stanley Arinze, Director, Procurement and Support Services – were given the boot.
The seven other disengaged directors – Dr. Hassan Mahmud, Director, Trade & Exchange; Haruna Bala Mustafa, Director, Financial Policy and Regulation; Rakiya Shuaibu Mohammed, Director, Information Technology; Amina B. Habib; Director, Consumer Protection; Yila Yusuf; Director, Development Finance; Elizabeth Amos Kwaghe, Director, Currency Operations; and Dr. AbdulMuminin Isa, Director, Corporate Communications – which brought the number of sacked directors to 16, were mainly from the North Central.
TheNiche investigations further revealed that with the four statutory retirements and 16 purges, the number of CBN directors still in service now are nine with Rashida Jumoke Monguno, Director, Corporate Secretariat; Aderinola Shonekan, Director, Research, Dr. Omolara Duke, Director, Financial Markets; Jimoh Musa Itopa; Director, Capacity Development; Muhammad Abba; Director, Human Resources; Rabiu Musa, Director, Finance; Sirajuddin Kofo Salam-Alada; Director, Legal Services; Dr. Blaise Ijebor; Director, Risk Management; and Lydia I. Alfa, Director, Internal Audit as the lucky ones.
Out of the nine remaining directors, each of the other five zones have at least one director still left in service with the exception of the Southeast.
“It is not a coincidence. The move is deliberate. There are insinuations that it is punishment ordered from the presidency as punishment for the Southeast for not voting for President Bola Tinubu during the 2023 elections. The vibe we are getting is that the purge will be replicated in other federal establishments,” a source outside the CBN, who also pleaded anonymity, said.
Unceremonious disengagement
Each of the letters of disengagement stated that the sack was with immediate effect, contrary to their employment contracts, which stipulate that notice would be required in the event of cessation of employment, where the employees are not dismissed for gross misconduct.
None of the employees was accused of any wrongdoing. No queries were issued to any of them, no disciplinary panel sat or indicted any of them. Yet, they were unceremoniously disengaged, without regard for the Human Resources Policy and Procedures Manual of the CBN or even civil service rules.
To make matters worse, most of the staff who have been ignominiously sacked have served the institution meritoriously for upwards of 20 to 30 years. Their inhumane disengagement letters only referred to an opaque and undefined human capital restructuring process as the reason why their services would no longer be required.
Worse still, although the disengagement letters claimed that their final entitlements would be paid “in due course”, some of the sacked staff told TheNiche that the first set who were disengaged seven weeks ago are yet to be paid their entitlements, hence the palpable apprehension.
Ethnic and religious bias?
Although a management staff who also spoke on condition of anonymity explained that the disengagements were without malice, having affected staff members from virtually all parts of the country, there are still complaints of ethnic and religious bias in the exercise and the ethnic extractions of the affected staff tends to lend credence to such assumptions.
For instance, one affected staff complained to TheNiche that more than 90 per cent of the executives from Gombe State were fired. The same is applicable to Plateau State where one staff was fired one day to her retirement date.
“But the Southeast and South-South geopolitical zones are probably the worst hit by the disengagements. For instance, all five directors from the Southeast were fired, while four out of the five directors from the South-South were fired. Staff from the South East, South-South, and Christians from different parts of the country also constitute more than 90 per cent of the disengaged deputy directors and assistant directors,” she lamented.
Order from above
Despite the so-called autonomy of the CBN, there were indications that the authorization for the sack came directly from the presidency to the CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso who was mandated to reduce the workforce by 50 per cent. President Bola Tinubu is said not to be happy that CBN has a workforce of about 10,000 staff, which he considers too bloated.
An Abuja-based management consultant who also weighed in on the story agrees that the CBN workforce is too unwieldy and blamed the two immediate past CBN governors – Lamido Sanusi and Godwin Emefiele – for the crisis.
“Under Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the CBN staff strength was about 4,000. But Sanusi and Emefiele pushed the numbers to about 10,000 with their indiscriminate and illegal employment of mostly unqualified children of politicians who did not go through the rigours of competitive interviews. But Tinubu now wants the numbers to be pruned down to about 5,000,” he said.
“Now, what is wrong with the purge is that rather than laying off those children of rich people who have no experience and came in through the back door, those that are being sacked are people who were properly recruited and are competent and have unquantifiable cognate experiences garnered over the years. Nigeria will ultimately he the loser.”
House of Representatives wades in
The House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 29, agreed that if nothing is done about the sack, Nigeria will be the ultimate loser.
The Green Chamber of the National Assembly, therefore, directed its committee on banking institutions to investigate the circumstances leading to the mass sack.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by the member representing Karu/Keffi/Kokona Federal Constituency of Nasarawa State, Hon Jonathan Gbefwi.
Leading the debate on the motion, Gbefwi said the CBN as part of an extensive reform, has been downsizing the workforce “which has affected close to 600 employees including directors and nearly all staff members in the governor’s directorate.”
According to him, “The recent downsizing by the apex bank has raised significant concerns and controversies among stakeholders, including the affected employees, labour unions, and the general public.”
He lamented that those affected by the CBN’s action are top-notch professionals whose skills may be lost to Europe and America, thus, leaving the country short-changed.
He said: “We are worried that these retrenchments, without any sort of fair hearings or panels, could cause the nation a lot in settlements.
“A director’s tenure according to the civil service rules is two terms of four years or 60 years of service, whichever comes first. This makes them like permanent secretaries. The capacity being thrown away cannot be easily replaced.
“The House is worried about staff morale and progression. People choose careers in civil service so that they can end careers like their superiors and mentors who trained them. Seeing their bosses being treated with disregard and like criminals will send a message that professionalism is not rewarded, as well as meritorious service to our great nation Nigeria.”
