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CBN Attributes Sack Of 1,000 Staff To Digitisation, Operational Restructuring 

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 Central Bank of Nigeria ,CBN, has confirmed the voluntary resignation of 1,000 staff members as part of a restructuring process driven by its ongoing adoption of digital technologies.

The move is aimed at streamlining operations and addressing redundancies arising from the transition to a more tech-driven banking model.

This was revealed by Bala Bello, a deputy director representing the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, during an appearance before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives probing the initiative.

The committee was established following concerns over the scale of the resignations and the payment of ₦50 billion in compensation to the departing employees.

The committee was set up following concerns over the mass exit and the ₦50 billion compensation payout.

“You are very much aware, chairman, that the entire world is going through a process of digitising its operations. When that happens, a lot of opportunities are created, just as redundancies are equally created,” Bello noted.

The bank’s restructuring efforts have also been influenced by the lack of vacancies at the managerial level, which has caused stagnation for many staff members.

“It gets to the level where you have, for example, 30 departments in the Central Bank. You cannot have 60 directors manning 30 departments. It’s not going to work. So, once those vacancies are filled, some people despite being highly qualified, very able, and very willing find there are no vacancies.

Then they get to a level where they are stagnated for a period of time”, he said.Interestingly, some of the exiting staff members have plans to establish their own banks, with assurances of support from the CBN.“A lot of opportunities are out there.

Among the people who have left, there are three or four who are going to set up a bank. We have assured them that if they need the support of the Central Bank, we will provide it”, Bello revealed.

According to Bello, the programme was not imposed by the bank but was instead a response to popular demand from staff members seeking career alternatives.

“In this particular case, based on popular request and I came with the union leader of the bank the staff requested that a similar opportunity should be extended to other categories of staff”,  he explained.

He further emphasised that the process was entirely voluntary, with no coercion or intimidation involved.

“This is the first time in the over 60-year history of the bank that an early exit programme has been extended to all willing staff members. It is not mandatory, and no one is forced to leave”, he added.

The House of Representatives, under the chairmanship of Bello Kumo, is currently probing the programme to ensure transparency. Kumo assured the CBN of a fair hearing in the investigation.

The CBN’s restructuring efforts under Governor Cardoso have drawn mixed reactions. While the bank has been praised for eradicating multiple exchange rates and clearing some obligations, concerns persist over inflationary pressures and the lack of stability in the foreign exchange market.

Cardoso was appointed by President Bola Tinubu in September 2023 following the suspension of Godwin Emefiele.The CBN governor, a former Citigroup executive, promised a radical departure from his predecessor and a return to orthodox banking regulations.In the past 15 months, the CBN has been praised for clearing some outstanding obligations.

Also lauded for the eradication of the multiple exchange rates but the lack of stability in the FX market remains a concern.

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Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

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Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D

The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.

The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.

In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”

The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.

The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.

Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.

In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.

Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.

Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.

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