Plans by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to move some of its operations to Lagos is a deliberate effort to move talents to areas where they are needed, the governor of the apex bank, Olayemi Cardoso has said.
He explained that the CBN has offices in the 36 states of the federation providing services to stakeholders that are domiciled in the states.
Speaking on Arise TV yesterday, Monday, the governor said the personnel movement is also an attempt to depopulate the Abuja office.
The governor who decried the furore generated over the movement, said the process was normal for any vibrant entity like a central bank.
He added that the latest move is meant to align the CBN’s structure with its functions and objectives and redistribute skills to ensure a more even geographical spread of talent.
His words: “I think there has 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 federation state. 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 concerning Lagos, from our perspective, it makes a lot of sense that the entities that we are attempting to regulate and need to be on top of that are based in Lagos and they should have the right skills from the central bank right next to them so they can adequately and effectively do their jobs.”
The CBN helmsman insisted that the premises are indeed overpopulated, saying: “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.”
On the transparency of the foreign exchange market, Cardoso said the CBN is working to achieve a situation where people who require foreign exchange do not have to know anybody in the banks, in either the central bank or the commercial bank.
“A system that is open and transparent creates an environment for distortions to go away, and thereby those who want to bring in foreign exchange are those who want to demand, the opportunity is kind of nice. The market can then operate on a ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ basis. And therefore, the market becomes more active, and the price is eventually discovered at a level that makes sense,” he said.
