There are strong indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may retire about 1,000 of its employees before the end of the year in furtherance of the management’s moves to restructure the workforce based on its operational needs.
News reports on Monday indicated that sources at the apex bank indicated that the exercise could gulp over N50 billion in the payment of retirement benefits to the affected workers.
The Yemi Cardoso-led management of the apex bank had a few weeks ago issued a Circular which related to the application for Early Exit Package (EPP) for to all cadres of staff and the closing timeline was fixed as this Saturday, December 7.
The management described the EEP as a voluntary retirement initiative that offers eligible employees incentives to exit the CBN early and also provides employees seeking other career options opportunity for early exit.
According to the circular, no employee can change their minds after applying as all completed and submitted applications will be regarded as final.
The EEP, which provides that financial incentives for senior supervisors to deputy managers shall be for the remaining period in service, up to a maximum of 60 months of current grade’s gross annual emoluments, also indicated that financial incentives for managers shall be for the remaining period in service, up to a maximum of 36 months of current grade’s gross annual emoluments.
It further clarified that financial incentives for all other cadres of staff shall be for the remaining period in service, up to a maximum of 18 months of current grade gross annual emoluments.
Other non-financial incentives offered by the EEP include financial planning and entrepreneurial capacity building programme, purchase of laptops in line with the Bank’s current policy and extended medical care for an additional three months for self and dependents after the expiration of the three-month current provision of access to medical windows care by exited employees.
According to the circular, those exempted from the EEP are employees whose appointment are yet to be confirmed or those who have served for less than one year as of the date of publication with the effective date of exit set at 31 December, 2024.
Sources in the bank were quoted by some media as saying that over 800 applicants had applied to exit based on the conditions and terms stated in the EEP.
It would be recalled that over the past few months, the Cardoso-led management of the apex bank had disengaged many workers, including some directors, as part of its human resource restructuring exercise.
It was learnt that during a webinar organized last Friday on to fully educate the employees on the EEP, top shots in the Human Resource Department were quoted as expressing the apex bank management’s determination to ensure that the objectives of the programme are achieved.
