CBN Secret Recruitment: ‘There Must Be Equal Opportunities For All Nigerians’

The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of over 400 civil society organizations, weekend, described the recent shady recruitment exercise conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a grand betrayal of a change mantra of the Buhari’s administration. The Chairman of TMG, Com. Ibrahim Zikirulahi, in a statement in Abuja, said that the scam is a clear manifestation that vestiges of the discredited and corrupt old guard still dominated the system in the country. The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to fish out the perpetrators and punish them according to the law of the land, adding that the reasons given by the apex bank to embark on secret recruitment exercise was not acceptable. The statement reads: “TMG is dismayed by recent revelations of outright cronyism and favouritism in a shady recruitment exercise conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It is indeed very strange that impunity of this magnitude would be associated with the nation’s apex bank at a time Nigerians are hoping that the change mantra of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, would translate into better ethical standards for conducting government business. “TMG is not unmindful of the fact that this scandal is a clear manifestation that there remains within the system vestiges of the discredited and corrupt old guard, which would always be against a people centred philosophy of governance. For us, the recruitment scandal points to a culture of lax corporate governance, which has seen the CBN under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele canonize itself as a do-nothing institution in the face of criminal assaults on due process. “The CBN which has elected to sacrifice openness, merit and fairness in its recruitment is the same institution, which silently conspired with looters and plunderers of the nation’s financial resources, during the locust years of the last administration. “TMG is amazed that the current government has not deemed it a matter of utmost urgency to halt the desecration of an institution as vital as the CBN. On the basis of the litany of sleazes that were made possible by the acquiescence of the current CBN leadership alone, it is crystal clear that a clean sweep of leadership at the apex bank, is long overdue. “TMG is unimpressed by the lame excuse the CBN spin doctors are adducing for deciding to embark on a secret recruitment drive. Even if ‘targeted’ employment or head hunting was the basis for making the process secret, there are thousands of young Nigerians who need jobs, who could have been targeted. But because the CBN was working towards a pre-determined outcome, it filled the list with names of children and relatives of prominent politicians, government officials and other influence peddlers. “We insist this is not the proper way to do things; the outcome of the recruitment must therefore be immediately jettisoned. “TMG calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and put an end to the attempts by well-heeled people in government to rubbish his efforts at rescuing Nigeria from the abyss of corruption, nepotism and favouritism. “There must be equal opportunities for all Nigerians” TMG added.

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