The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that it gave out N40.67 billion in loans to its employees as of December 2022. An increase of 133.07 percent from N17.43 billion in 2021 to N40.67 billion in 2022.
This was disclosed in the apex bank’s audited financial statement for 2022.
According to the apex bank, “From a bank-wide staff strength of 10,000 staff, excluding the over 2,000 casuals in the HQ and branches as at 1999, the bank operated with a substantially reduced staff strength of and (sic) 4,914 by December 2005, further down from 6,119 as at December 2004. It should be noted further that 79 percent of current staff are now professionals.”
Despite the N155.63 billion granted as staff allowances in 2022, the huge debt was noted.
According to the financial statement, staff allowances included furniture, housing, leave, transport, productivity allowances, and ‘others paid to staff during the period’.
The sum was N90 billion higher than the CBN’s recorded profit of N65.63 billion during the period under consideration.
It was also 37.2% higher than the N113.35 billion spent on worker allowances in 2021.
The CBN also spent a total of N1.2 trillion on personnel costs in seven years and earned a net profit of N520.04 billion.
The released audited financial reports of the apex bank for seven years, ranging from 2016 to 2022, revealed a significant decrease and recovery in its earnings between 2016 and 2022.
Over a seven-year period, employee salaries increased by 119%.
According to the apex bank’s recently released consolidated and separate statements of accounts, earnings fell dramatically from N124.47bn and N107.39bn in 2016 and 2017 to N43.77bn in 2018. It then fell to N34.63 billion in 2019, N30.81 billion in 2020, and N75.12 billion in 2021.
At the end of the 2022 fiscal year, the CBN’s earnings for the year soared to N103.85bn, just as employee emoluments had steadily risen over the seven-year period, with N121.23bn spent on personnel expenses in 2016, rising to N135.95bn in 2017 and N137.36bn in 2018.
The amount spent on employee salaries, allowances, and perks increased to N168.03 billion, N183.60 billion, and N200.04 billion in 2019, 2020, and 2021, before settling at N265.87 billion last year.
