The Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Dr Olayemi Cardoso, said at the interview with Arise News on Monday that the CBN’s planned relocation of departments and personnel to other branches was a response to the current “overpopulation” at the headquarters
He said the move is to align with the bank’s structure in order to achieve the bank objective and to be able to carry out it functions and to also ensure a more even geographical spread of talent.
Cardoso said, “I think there’s been an attempt to sensationalize what is a normal process for any vibrant entity like a central bank. Bear in mind that, as a national institution, the central bank has a presence in every state of the federation.”
“A situation where a large number of technical skills are in one particular location to the detriment of others does not speak well.”
“So, this has been an attempt to realign that and to ensure that skills are moved from where there’s an overabundance to where there’s a great shortage of those skills. So that’s basically what that is about.”
“And with respect to Lagos which you mentioned, from our perspective, it makes a lot of sense that the entities which we are attempting to regulate and need to be on top of that are based in Lagos and they hould have the right skills from the central bank right next to them so they can adequately and effectively do their jobs.”
Cardoso further stated, “It is overpopulated. And with what we are doing right now, we are hoping that will also help in easing the issue of overpopulation, which it is.”
“And quite frankly, anybody that comes to the bank and interacts on that level will see that it is. It is overpopulated. And we’ve got to ensure that we can manage potential issues that could fall out from an overpopulated environment.”
A memo was sent to all staffs which state “This is to notify all staff members at the CBN Head Office that we have initiated a decongestion action plan designed to optimize the operational environment of the bank.”
“This initiative aims to ensure compliance with building safety standards and enhance the efficient utilisation of our office space.
