Arewa Youth Assembly Accuses CBN of Secretly Hiring 400 Staff After Downsizing

The Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) has raised serious concerns over a recent recruitment exercise by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), accusing the institution of secretly hiring over 400 new staff members to replace 1,000 employees who were reportedly forced to resign.

In a statement issued from Kaduna, the Speaker of the AYA, Mohammed Salihu Danlami, condemned the recruitment process, describing it as opaque and lacking due process. He accused the leadership of the CBN, under Governor Olayemi Cardoso, of orchestrating the hiring without proper advertisement or open competition, which would allow qualified candidates to apply.

“We have intercepted credible reports alleging that the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Olayemi Cardoso has secretly recruited over 400 staff to replace the over 1,000 who were said to have voluntarily resigned,” Danlami said. He questioned the rationale behind the move, asking why the bank, which recently downsized its workforce, would then hire a significant number of new employees.

Danlami further expressed concern that the recruitment process might have excluded candidates from the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), thus violating the principle of federal character, which is enshrined in the Nigerian constitution to ensure fairness in appointments across the country.

The AYA has called on the CBN to provide clarification on the allegations and to ensure that future recruitment processes are transparent, inclusive, and in line with the country’s constitutional requirements.

As of the time of filing this report, the Central Bank of Nigeria has yet to respond to the accusations.