The ongoing plans to relocate largely “customer” facing departments to Lagos raises gear as the Lagos office is set for additional 1,500 people. The departments involved include the banking and other financial services supervision departments, consumer protection, payments, and financial policy. The relocation will improve the proximity of the departments to their functions and decongest and improve staff safety at the head office in Abuja. The CBN has been unduly criticized by those that see it as a subtle move to return the head office to Lagos and see it as against Northern interests. What is missing in most of the conversations is how did the CBN and headquarters have nearly 5,000 staff. Following the Bank’s plan to professionalize it for efficiency, the Bank had reduced the number of staff from 10,000 in 1999 to 4,914 by 2005. The congestion at the head office is a consequence of what would have been significant “political” appointments at the bank in the last decade. According to estimates, the head office has the same number of total staff the Bank had in 2005.
