CBN employees loans enhance by 113% to N40 billion

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 benefited from the loan was not specified by CBN.

However, details on its website gave information about the bank’s current workforce size.

“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 operates with a substantially reduced staff strength of and (sic) 4,914 by December 2005, further down from 6,119 as at December 2004,” the apex bank stated. It should be added that professionals currently make up 79% of the present workforce.

Despite the N155.63 billion allocated as staff allowances in 2022, a high level of debt was documented.

The audit states that the worker allowances covered things like furniture, housing, time off, transport, productivity bonuses and ‘others paid to staff during the period’.

The amount was N90 billion more than the CBN’s reported profit for the same time period of N65.63 billion.

Additionally, it was 37.2% higher than the N113.35 billion spent on staff allowances in 2021.

Furthermore, it was noted that during the course of seven years, the CBN spent N1.2 trillion on staff expenditures while reporting a net profit of N520.04 billion.

The apex bank’s profit experienced a significant decrease and recovery between 2016 and 2022, according to highlights of its seven years of audited financial records released from 2016 to 2022.

This occurred as worker compensation increased consistently over the course of seven years, increasing by 119%.

The apex bank’s recently disclosed consolidated and separate statements of accounts show that profit fell dramatically from N124.47 billion and N107.39 billion in 2016 and 2017 to N43.77 billion in 2018.

Prior to increasing to N75.12bn in 2021, it further decreased to N34.63bn in 2018 and N30.81bn in 2019 and 2020.

The Apex Bank’s earnings for the year increased to N103.85 billion at the conclusion of the 2022 fiscal year, 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.

Before stabilising at N265.87bn last year, the amount spent on worker salaries, allowances, and perks increased to N168.03bn, N183.60bn, and N200.04bn in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

According to the most recent report, which was signed by Godwin Emefiele, the bank’s suspended governor, and audited by Ernst & Young and KPMG, the banking regulator’s credit loss expense jumped to N875.2 billion in 2022 from N498.2 billion in 2021.