News in brief:
– CBN has fired the executive directors of NIRSAL, a government agency promoting agricultural lending.
– Following allegations of financial mismanagement and other layoffs, there is concern among other agency staff.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sacked the executive directors of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agriculture Lending (NIRSAL), according to several news reports over the weekend.
Abbas Umar Masanawa, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, was one of the many who received their dismissal letter on Friday evening. He has been in the banking industry for more than two decades and served as the Deputy General Manager of Zenith Bank Plc before joining CBN as the Chief Financial and Strategic Director of the Bank of Nigeria’s Security Printing and Mining Company (NSPMC) under President Buhari’s administration.
There are fears among other staff members at the agency concerning wider action as the top executives have left, a media outlet said. This panic is especially potent as the country’s apex bank has been axing jobs since it came under the leadership of Olayemi Cardoso. Seven directors, 90 senior management staff and about 700 staff have lost their jobs since then.
NIRSAL itself has been embroiled in controversy for quite some time. Its former managing director, Abulhammed Aliyu, was arrested and is facing allegations of missapropriation of funds for a wheat programme by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Additionally, a private consultant, who denied any wrongdoing, returned ₦1.5 billion to the EFCC in a plea bargain to avoid further persecution. In the notice that the CBN sent to the recently dismissed executives, it mentioned major organisational and human capital restructuring as the reason for terminating their appointments.
Despite his sacking, Masanawa may not be out of trouble yet as it took 11 months after he left the role for Aliyu to be picked up by the police for his ongoing case.
NIRSAL is a licensed financial institution that is owned by the CBN and empowered to define, price, and share agribusiness-related credit risk to the tune of $500 million. As a public-private initiative, it was supposed to be the vehicle for the country’s financial institution to encourage investment in the agricultural sector. The restructuring exercise is geared towards making it a more effective tool for promoting agriculture.
