Why we can’t reverse decision to relocate CBN departments to Lagos — Cardoso

By Paul Dada

The Central Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, says the relocation of some departments of the apex bank will help to decongest the headquarters of the apex bank in Abuja.

Cardoso who  stated this  in an interview with Arise TV,  expressed his dissatisfaction with the sensational criticisms of the plan by some Nigerians.
The development has been condemned  by and  has been outrage some groups and notable individuals in  northern Nigeria. The affected departments are  Banking Supervision, Other Financial Institutions Supervision, Consumer Protection Department, Payment System Management Department, and Financial Policy Regulations Department.  1,500 among workers at the CBN headquarters are affected in the move.

But Cardoso 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.”
Adding, he said,  “It (CBN headquarters)  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.”