During an investigative hearing held on Friday in Abuja by the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso addressed the circumstances surrounding the departures and the allocation of a N50 billion severance package for those affected.
Cardoso further clarified that the individuals in question chose to participate in the voluntary Early Exit Programme, which included the provision of full benefits.
In his remarks, delivered by Deputy Director of Corporate Services, Bala Bello, Cardoso elaborated that the Early Exit Programme, along with restructuring and reorganization efforts, are strategies aimed at optimizing organizational performance by ensuring that the right personnel are placed in suitable roles, thereby meeting the bank's manpower needs.
“The man loading, which is the key responsibilities, key performance indicators of the bank, vis-a-vis the number of people driving the performance of that bank, is at a level where it’s optimum, balancing the human resource requirement, the capital requirement, the skill requirement, as well as the IT requirement of the bank.
“You are very much aware that the entire world is going through a process of digitising its operations. And then once that is done, a lot of opportunities are created, just like a lot of redundancies are also equally created.
“And you have had instances in which, in the past, the request for staff to actually exit the bank voluntarily actually emanated on the part of the staff. And I believe the Central Bank is not necessarily the first organisation to have done that.
“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 emphasized that the initiative is not limited to government entities, stating, “I believe numerous organizations globally, as well as within this nation, in both the private and public sectors, are engaging in similar initiatives.”
Bello further remarked, “In the past, we had instances in which cases of stagnation and lack of career progression appear. I mean, 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 doesn’t work. 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.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Bello Kumo, highlighted that the Committee's role is to present the report to the House.
He said, “Let me start by saying that the House of Representatives, the 10th National Assembly, understand that CBN is implementing the Restructuring, Reorganising and the Early Exit Program. I don’t know whether the CBN Governor can explain or brief this committee on the objectives of the Restructuring, Reorganising and Early Exit Programme to this committee.
“Can you explain the Early Exit Program and what you intend to achieve with it? When it starts, when it will end, and what is the connection?” he asked.