Bankers and other financial stakeholders said the relocation of some departments to the Lagos office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is one of the best decisions taken by the apex bank in recent times.
According to them, the move will save hundreds of millions of naira.
In his view, a retired banker, Ogundipe Justus, said the cost of moving staff to Lagos where over 95 per cent of the banks are headquartered for examination of books, for instance, will require accommodating the central bank statement staff and feeding them.
“If care is not taken, there will be an added cost of out of station allowance, leading to high cost of regulating.
Another new generation banker who does not want his name in print said, the relocation of these departments to Lagos will make them carry their duties more efficiently and that the banks will sit up the more because they know inspectors can arrive any time.
Also, a former deputy governor of the CBN, Kingsley Moghalu, has expressed his support for the move.
For him, the Lagos office, inaugurated during his tenure 12 years ago, has remained underutilised.
With the decongestion plans, the apex bank plans to move 1,533 staff to other facilities in Abuja, Lagos, and understaffed branches.
The CBN said, the current occupancy level of 4,233 significantly exceeds the optimal capacity of 2,700 designed for the Head Office building.
Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the CBN, weighed in on the discussion through social media. He acknowledged that the Lagos office, inaugurated during his tenure 12 years ago, has been underutilised, making the relocation a logical solution to address overstaffing in Abuja.
Writing on X, he said, “I don’t see any serious basis for such “disquiet”. A new Lagos Office for the bank was completed and inaugurated about 12 years ago while I was at the Bank. As far as I can remember, it was underutilised.
But
Mogaji Olowu, a bank customer, however pointed out that the over 1,500 staff will feel some kind of dislocation.
“Changing somebody’s address overnight is not usually easy to cope with; some of them may instead resign rather than face such an emergency relocation”, he said.
He however said that the disadvantages are nothing compared to the long term benefits.
