There is palpable bad blood among senior staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, as directors are reportedly fuming over alleged discrepancies in the remuneration formular.
According to an online newspaper, directors in CBN’s 29 departments are grumbling over how the women said to single-handedly brought in by the governor, Olayemi Cardoso, as consultants, had “amassed enormous powers enabling them to sometimes issue directives to departmental directors.”
The publication said the development had led to widespread anger across the board of the institution, with some insiders describing it as “unbelievably high and obscene.”
Inside sources disclosed that the women arrived the apex bank when Cardoso assumed duties on September 22, 2023, sparking suspicion about their relationship with the governor, with their value to the institution and huge monthly pay under question.
The report named the women at the centre of the controversy as Nkiru Balonwu, founder of The Africa Soft Power Group, and Daphne Dafinone, a chartered accountant and chief operating officer of Crowe Dafinone, an accounting firm.
Another is a “technical consultant” named Shola Phillips, who is said to have joined Mr Cardoso’s kitchen cabinet from Citibank.
But our sources said Phillip’s presence and activities have not been as disruptive and controversial as the first two, just as the terms of her engagement are not yet clear.
The consultants, according to the report, are now mockingly called “Cardoso women” across the bank.
Directors at the CBN said Mr Cardoso arbitrarily hired the women as consultants without following due process, with no terms of reference, deliverables or timelines for the delivery of their consultancies.
For instance, they queried the hiring of Ms Balonwu as a corporate communication consultant when the CBN has an elaborate, efficient and well-staffed corporate communication department led by a director and tasked with ensuring effective, timely and qualitative internal and external communication engagement and feedback.
On her part, insiders said Ms Dafinone’s consultancy role is not clearly defined, as she merely takes on any responsibility assigned to her by Cardoso.
They gave an instance with a recent task to Dafinone to design and implement a controversial early exit programme to pay off at least 1,000 staff into voluntary retirement.
It was said that Cardoso tapped her for this role while bypassing the bank’s human resources department, which is statutorily charged with developing and administering human capital management policies, functions and processes.
Though the CBN has four statutory deputy governors – Emem Usoro (Corporate Services Directorate), Muhammad Dattijo (Economic Policy Directorate), Philip Ikeazor (Financial System Stability Directorate), and Bala Bello (Operations Directorate), Balonwu and Dafinone unofficially assumed position as the fifth and sixth deputy governors of the regulatory institution, amassing enormous power and earning more than the directors.
According to the directors, the consultants now write memos on CBN letterheads, issuing directives even when they are unknown to the bank’s structure and organogram.
“They said they are consultants, but they have permanent offices in the bank and their consultancies have no end dates,” one director said.
“I am tempted to say they are even more influential than the deputy governors. Their offices are on the 11th floor, just like the governor’s. The deputy governors are on the tenth floor, below the so-called consultants. They even bypass deputy governors to give direct instructions to directors.”
Another bank insider corroborated the director’s claim, saying he once overheard one of the women boasting that “if she draws a line at the bank, even the governor dare not cross it.
“I can tell you the women are the real people running the CBN. Cardoso has become a mere figurehead,” a third director said.
Staff of the bank also accuse Cardoso of paying the women obscene salaries.
For instance, they said Ms Balonwu earns N50 million monthly, more than the governor and the deputy governors.
Her salary also dwarfs the combined pay of 15 directors, who earn below N3 million monthly, the report added.
On her part, Ms Dafinone is said to be earning N35 million monthly, higher than the combined salaries of 10 directors.
According to Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act 2007, government agencies are required to conduct transparent and competitive processes when hiring consultants.
However, the consultants are yet to respond to the allegations as, according to the medium, efforts to reach them were abortive.
It informed that Ms Dafinone did not respond to telephone and WhatsApp calls, neither did she reply to a text message.
For Ms Balonwu, her direct telephone line did not connect while she did not answer or reply to a WhatsApp call while an iMessage sent to her was delivered but was not replied to.
Similarly, the CBN spokesperson, Hakama Ali’s known telephone line was unreachable and she did not respond to a text message and an email sent to her.
