Economy
Why 1,000 workers left CBN – Cardoso
The Central Bank of Nigeria has again clarified that the 1,000 staff members who opted out of service in December 2024 were not forced to quit their jobs.
The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, stated this on Friday in Abuja at an investigative hearing of the House of Representatives’ ad-hoc committee probing the circumstances leading to the exit of the staff members and how the sum of N50bn severance package for the affected persons was arrived at.
Cardoso added that the affected persons opted to disengage through the voluntary Early Exit Program with payment of full benefits.
Represented by Deputy Director, Corporate Service of the CBN, Bala Bello, Cardoso explained. “The Early Exit Program, Restructuring and Re-organization “are basically ways and means through which the performance of an organization is optimized by ensuring that round pegs are put in right holes. The manpower requirement of the bank is actually met.
“I’m very happy to mention that the early exit program of the CBN is 100 per cent voluntary. It’s not mandatory. Nobody has been asked to leave, and nobody has been forced to leave. It’s a completely voluntary programme that has been put in place.”
He also noted that the exercise was not restricted to government agencies alone, saying, “I believe several organisations across the world, and even within this country, both in terms of the private sector and the public sector, are undertaking similar exercises.”
Continuing, Cardoso said, “In the past, we had instances in which cases of stagnation and lack of career progression appear. In an organisation, you’ve got a pyramid where from each level to the next level, the gap keeps narrowing. If not, you are going to have a quasi-organisation, an inverted pyramid.
“It gets to the level where you have, for example, 30 departments in the Central Bank. You cannot have 60 directors manning 30 departments. It’s not going to work.
“Once those vacancies are filled, it gets to a level where some people, even though they are very qualified, able, and willing, but the vacancies are not there. And then they got to a level where they are stagnated for a period of time.”
Speaking earlier, the chairman of the committee, Bello Kumo, noted that the committee’s responsibility was to submit the report to the House.
The naira depreciated to N1, 615 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,610 per dollar on Monday.
Likewise, the Naira depreciated to N1,602 per dollar in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, showed that the indicative exchange rate for the naira rose to N1,602 per dollar from N1,596 per dollar on Monday, indicating N6 depreciation for the naira.
Consequently, the margin between the parallel market and NFEM rate narrowed to N13 per dollar from N14 per dollar on Monday.
The Nigerian stock market opened the week on a bullish note on Monday, gaining N228 billion on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd.
Market capitalisation rose by N228 billion or 0.34 per cent and closed at N66.693 trillion compared to Friday’s figure of N66.465 trillion.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) climbed by 363.57 points or 0.34 per cent, reaching 106,116.18 from 105,752.61 recorded earlier.
The Nigerian stock market opened the week on a bullish note on Monday, gaining N228 billion on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd.
Market capitalisation rose by N228 billion or 0.34 per cent and closed at N66.693 trillion compared to Friday’s figure of N66.465 trillion.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) climbed by 363.57 points or 0.34 per cent, reaching 106,116.18 from 105,752.61 recorded earlier.
The positive trend was driven by strong buying interest in medium and large-cap stocks including International Breweries, Legend Internet Plc, Cadbury Nigeria, Fidson and more.
In spite of the upward trend, the market breadth closed positively, with 47 gainers and 16 losers.
International Breweries led the gainers’ chart, rising by 10 per cent to close at N8.47 per share.
Legend Internet Plc followed, appreciating by 9.97 per cent to settle at N7.50 per share.
Cadbury Nigeria gained by 9.96 per cent, and end the day at N29.25, while Fidson rose by 9.95 per cent to close at N20.45 per share.
Eterna also advanced by 9.90 per cent to close at N43.85 per share.
On the losers’ chart, Livestock Feeds dropped by 10 per cent, closing at N8.55 per share.
Aradel Holdings declined by 9.86 per cent to end the session at N448.00 per share
Tripple Gee fell by 9.60 per cent to close at N1.79, while John Holt Plc shed 7.94 per cent to close at N5.80 per share.
Linkage Assurance lost by 6.15 per cent, and finished the day at N1.22 per share.
A total of 500.59 million shares worth N12.110 billion were traded in 17,637 transactions.
This is compared to Friday’s 428.08 million shares worth N20.174 billion, exchanged across 14,284 transactions.
Access Corporation led the activity chart with 60.867 million shares traded, which was worth N1.45 billion.
Fidelity Bank followed with 56.105 million shares valued at N1.13 billion while the United Bank for Africa sold 34.53 million shares worth N1.174 billion.
Guarantee Trust Holding Company transacted 33.49 million shares valued at N2.181 billion and the Nigerian Breweries traded 28.336 million shares, amounting to N1.15 billion.
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