CBN headquarters currently overpopulated – Cardoso

The Central Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, has explained that the ongoing initiatives to relocate departments and personnel to other branches are responses to the current “overpopulation” at the headquarters.

Cardoso stated these in an interview with Arise TV, which was monitored by our correspondent on Monday.

The governor, lamenting the sensational slant to the issue said the process was normal for any vibrant entity like a central bank.

According to him, the move was to align the bank’s structure with its functions and objectives and redistribute skills to ensure a more even geographical spread of talent.

There has been outrage following the apex bank’s decision to redeploy over 1,500 personnel from its headquarters to other branches in the country.

A memo earlier issued to staff read, “This is to notify all staff members at the CBN Head Office that we have initiated a decongestion action plan designed to optimise 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.”

Although the Northern Elders Forum and some other Northern groups had condemned the move, the move now being implemented reduced the HQ occupancy level to 2,733 personnel from 4,233.

According to reports, the departments relocated by the CBN  include Banking Supervision, Other Financial Institutions Supervision, Consumer Protection Department, Payment System Management Department, and Financial Policy Regulations Department.

Cardodo said, “I think there’s been an attempt to sensationalise 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.”

When asked if the CBN headquarters was above its carrying capacity, Cardoso replied in affirmation, stating, “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.”