As of December 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria had issued N40.67 billion in loans to its employees.
This was according to the apex bank’s audited financial statement for 2022.
There was a 133.77% increase from N17.43bn in 2021 to N40.67bn in 2022.
The number of employees who received a loan was not specifically stated by CBN.
The bank’s current workforce size was revealed via information on its website, nevertheless.
According to the apex bank, “from a bank-wide staff level of 10,000 staff in 1999, excluding the roughly 2,000 casuals in the HQ and branches, the bank runs with a drastically decreased staff strength of and (sic) 4,914 by December 2005, further down from 6,119 in December 2004. More importantly, 79 percent of the present workforce are now professionals.
Despite the N155.63 billion allocated for staff allowances in 2022, there was a considerable level of debt.
The study states that the staff allowances included accommodation, transport, leave, furniture, productivity bonuses, and “others paid to staff during the period.”
The amount was N90 billion more than the CBN’s reported profit of N65.63 billion for the studied period.
Furthermore, it represented a 37.2% increase above the N113.35 billion spent on staff allowances in 2021.
It was further noted that the CBN earned a net income of N520.04 billion while spending N1.2 trillion on human costs over a seven-year period.
The apex bank’s profit had a significant decrease in 2016 and a comeback in 2022, according to highlights of its audited financial records for the seven years from 2016 to 2022 that were published.
During those seven years, staff compensation increased gradually by 119%.
The apex bank’s consolidated and separate statements of accounts, which were been made public, show that earnings dropped significantly from N124.47 billion and N107.39 billion in 2016 and 2017 to N43.77 billion in 2018.
It continued to fall, reaching N34.63 billion, N30.81 billion, and N75.12 billion in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
At the end of the 2022 fiscal year, the apex bank’s earnings increased to N103.85 billion, just as employee emoluments had increased steadily over the previous seven years, from N121.23 billion in 2016 to N135.95 billion in 2017 and N137.36 billion in 2018.
The amount spent on staff salaries, allowances, and perks increased further, reaching N168.03 billion, N183.60 billion, and N200.04 billion in 2019, 2020, and 2021 before levelling out at N265.87 billion in 2017.
The most recent result, which was approved by the bank’s suspended governor Godwin Emefiele and audited by Ernst & Young and KPMG, revealed that the banking regulator’s credit loss expense jumped to N875.2 billion in 2022 from N498.2 billion in 2021.
