Photograph — Irene Abdou

On Tuesday, Sahara reporters published a recruitment list which revealed a new level of nepotism going on in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The report showed that CBN recruited about 91 relatives of politicians, elites and top guns under the watch of Godwin Emefiele without any proper recruitment process.

Some of the names on the list include: Claire Arase, daughter of Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, Nasreen Mamman-Daura, Son of President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura. Ejike Emmanuel Ibe, the son of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu. Na’abba Fatima Ghali, daughter of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba.

It is ridiculous to think that the people employed possibly lack the necessary qualifications to work in the bank and also didn’t undergo the necessary recruitment processes, whereas qualified Nigerians are on the streets looking for jobs daily. As it stands, 80 percent of the Nigerian youth is unemployed and many more graduates are expected to join the labor force this year.

No wonder the CBN comes up with “nonsense policies” that are not realistic. The prices of goods in Nigeria have gone up, many can hardly afford to cook a pot of food. Several importers are on the verge of folding up their businesses because they lack access to forex needed to import goods. And all this is happening because of the stringent policies put in place by the government and the apex bank in attempt to save the Naira. The bank also placed restrictions on access to forex for the purchase of a list of 40 items. According to the Nigerian government, these restrictions are expected to help build other sectors in Nigeria by making sure that Nigerians support locally made goods using the hashtag #buynaijatosavethenaira. The fact that the government wants to encourage the production of goods in the country is a laudable decision but the infrastructure needed to drive this course are not in place. For instance, the country still suffers from an epileptic power supply.

As a follow up to these findings, one of the leading dailies in Nigeria, the Daily Trust newspaper, published a story saying that the CBN recruited 909 staff in two years without advertising. This report revealed another side of CBN’s recruitment since 2014, when Godwin Emefiele assumed the position of the CBN governor.

Source: Daily Trust
Source: Daily Trust

Their investigations reveal that some of the basic requirements for employment were not followed in the recruitment and were also lopsided. The details of the recruitment, carried out between June 2014 and February 2015 revealed that out of the 909 staff engaged, 213 of them are from the South-South region, which happens to be the geo-political zone of CBN governor.
Others are North Central, 178; South West, 176; South East, 158; North West, 104 and North East 80. The five executive positions (Assistant Directors) are from Abia, Anambra, Benue, Edo and Oyo states. A total of 491 staff were employed to fill junior positions over the period with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounting for 11 slots. State-by-state breakdown of the beneficiaries showed that Delta State had the highest number with 78. Oyo, Imo and Edo States have 48, 42 and 41. Other states are Zamfara, 2; Yobe, 3 and Jigawa, 3.

Daily Trust also stated that a source at the CBN told them that the recruitment scandal had generated an internal protest at the apex bank. The management has now redeployed the Director of Human Resources that reportedly supervised the exercise, Mrs. Chizoba Mojekwu, to Training and Human Development Department. In September last year, the bank issued a statement signed by the former director, Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Mu’azu, denying any general recruitment in the bank emphasising that the bank would not embark on general recruitment exercise without due process. This is an issue that calls for an investigation by the Federal Capital Commission (FCC).

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