Business

CBN sacks 200 staff members

Published

1 month ago

May 24, 2024

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No fewer than 200 officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria were on Friday relieved of their duties.

This is an addition to the long list of ongoing disengagements in the apex bank.

This adds to the list of 117 staff sacked by the bank between March 15 and April 11, 2024.

The termination of appointments affects directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, principal managers, senior managers and lower-ranking staff.

Impeccable sources who are staff of the bank confirmed the sack on Friday, saying that those sacked are not less than 200.

They revealed that affected persons include older directors who were not affected by the last round of retrenchment.

One of the sources simply stated, “It is true and confirmed.”

The staff member who could not disclose further details for fear of victimisation added that the move has caused apprehension among staff of every cadre as the management has not specified any criteria for the decisions.

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Another source confirmed the information, indicating that additional dismissals are expected in the months ahead, spread out across staggered phases.

The official said, “It is real and is even more than 200 officials but the actual number is unconfirmed yet. The sack is coming in staggered phases and that is why we can’t confirm the number yet. But it is not less than 200.

“The sacked persons include directors, and other cadres but the ones that are easily known are the directors. Some of the batch of old directors that were not affected during the last round of sacks are now affected.”

The sack letter obtained by our correspondent and issued by the Human Resources Department on May 24, 2024, said the policy was to reorganise the organisation for effective operations.

The letter, lacking a signature read, “The new strategic direction of the bank has been widely publicised. In line with our new mission and vision, the bank is currently undergoing a significant organisational and human capital restructuring process.

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“As a result of this review, I have been directed to notify you that your services will not be required with effect from Friday, 24th May 2024.

“Your final entitlements will be calculated and paid to you in due course. Thank you”

In February, at least 1,500 members of staff of the apex bank of Nigeria were redeployed from the headquarters located at Central Area to its Lagos office.

At the time, the CBN said the action was necessitated by several factors, including the need to align the bank’s structure with its functions and objectives and redistribute skills to ensure a more even geographical spread of talent.

It added that it was also in compliance with building regulations, as indicated by repeated warnings from the facility manager, and the findings and recommendations of the Committee on Decongestion of the CBN Head Office.

A memo issued to staff read, “This is to notify all staff members at the CBN Head Office that we have initiated a decongestion action plan designed to optimise the operational environment of the Bank.

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“This initiative aims to ensure compliance with building safety standards and enhance the efficient utilisation of our office space”.

Related Topics:CBN Central Bank of Nigeria Staff members

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Business

Inflation: Nigerians borrow ₦3.9bn — CBN

Published

2 days ago

June 24, 2024

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Nigerians have resorted to loans as one of their survival strategies, as a report by the Central Bank of Nigeria, said consumer credit jumped by 12 per cent to approximately ₦3.9bn in January 2024, riding on the back of majorly heightened inflation.

According to the apex bank’s latest monthly economic report, the total consumer credit outstanding increased to N3,823bn in January 2024.

The report further explained that a disaggregation of consumer credit revealed, that personal loans increased by 14.3 per cent to N3,028bn from N2,649bn in December 2023.

Retail loans rose by 4 per cent to N795bn, as personal loans accounted for 79 per cent of consumer credit, while retail loans accounted for 21 per cent.

Consumer credit, as a share of total credit from Online Data Capture Systems (ODCs), however, declined to about 7 per cent, from 8 per cent in the preceding month, the report added.

This is as the headline inflation rate as provided by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), hit 33.95 per cent in May, forcing the apex bank to hike the interest rate consecutively to 26.25 per cent.

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The rising inflation has since seen Nigerians grappling with the effect of the worst economic crisis, as the cost of living escalates.

A study by SBM Intelligence found that 27 per cent of Nigerians across different income categories now resort to loan apps to keep up with their living expenses in the wake of record inflation.

The surge in demand for these loan apps indicates the severe impact of the unyielding inflationary pressures on the daily lives of Nigerians, especially those already grappling with limited financial resources.

Business

Otedola buys N18.9bn shares to regain position as biggest shareholder in FBN Holdings

Published

5 days ago

June 21, 2024

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Femi Otedola, billionaire businessman and chairman of FBN Holdings, has regained his position as the majority shareholder of First Bank.

According to corporate filings on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on Thursday, Otedola now owns 9.41 percent shares in the bank.

This became possible after he purchased the group’s shares valued at N18.9 billion.

According to the corporate filings, the billionaire paid N21.91 per share or N6.935 billion for 316,506,776 shares.

He then bought an additional 546,674,034 shares through Calvados Global Services Limited, his holding company, for N21.97 per share — totalling N12.01 billion.

With this, the number of shares recently acquired totalled 863,180,810.

The fresh acquisition has increased Otedola’s shares (direct and indirect) in FBN Holdings to 3,380,462,950 — from 2,517,282,140 shares.

This means the businessman is now the highest shareholder in the company, overtaking Barbican Capital Limited, owned by Oba Otudeko, which has 3,110,400,619 direct shares.

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In January, FBN Holdings appointed Otedola as the chairman of its board of directors.

The appointment came two years after the investor became the firm’s single largest shareholder in December 2021, when he increased his stake to 7.57 percent.

A month after the appointment, FBN Holdings named Barbican Capital Limited as its majority shareholder — making Otedola the second major shareholder at the time.

Business

Price of 12.5kg cooking gas increased by 63% in one year, says NBS

Published

6 days ago

June 20, 2024

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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the price of 12.5 kilograms (kg) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), better known as cooking gas, has increased by 63.85 percent in one year.

This is contained in the agency’s report on LPG (cooking gas) price watch for May 2024 on June 20.

NBS said the average price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas in May increased to N15,627.40, compared to N9,537.89 in May 2023.

On a month-on-month basis, the bureau said the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of LPG dropped by 0.07 percent in a month — from N15,637.74 in April 2024 to N15,627.40 in May 2024.

“The average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) declined by 0.07% on a month-on-month basis from N15,637.74 in April 2024 to N15,627.40 in May 2024,” NBS said.

“On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 63.85% from N9,537.89 in May 2023.”

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Based on state analysis, Zamfara recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cooking gas with N18,369.33, followed by Bayelsa with N17,772.21 and Abia with N17,538.02.

“Conversely, the lowest average price was recorded in Bauchi with N13,076.43, followed by Ebonyi and Taraba with N13,788.09 and N13,860.31 respectively,” the bureau added.

“Analysis by zone showed that the South-South recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N16,310.02, followed by the North-West with N15,991.13 while the North-East recorded the lowest price with N15,010.62.”

‘AVERAGE PRICE OF 5KG LPG INCREASED BY 13% IN MAY’

NBS said the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of LPG rose by 13.75 percent on a month-on-month basis — from N6,521.58 recorded in April 2024 to N7,418.45 in May 2024.

“On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 70.12% from N4,360.69 in May 2023,” NBS said.

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“On state profile analysis, Benue recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N8,012.03, followed by Enugu with N7,926.21, and Ondo with N7,857.53.

“On the other hand, Yobe recorded the lowest price with N5,842.31, followed by Jigawa and Katsina with N6,521.81 and N6,567.95 respectively.

“In addition, analysis by zone showed that the South-East recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N7,680.87, followed by the South-West with N6,593.93.”

NBS also said the north-east recorded the lowest price for May with N7,071.84.