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. (Saturday PUNCH, but headline rejigged)

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