How Cardoso, CBN Governor Arbitrarily Engaged 2 Female Consultant Friends

BY GBOGBOWA GBOWA

Upon his appointment as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor by the current administration, Mr. Ola Cardoso brought on board two female friends as consultants. These consultants are paid monthly salaries of 50 million naira and 35 million naira, respectively.

Crowe Dafinone Boss, Daphane Dafinone

The individuals are Nkiru Belonwu, the founder of The Africa Soft Power Group, and Daphne Dafinome, a chartered accountant and COO of Crowe Dafinone, a Nigerian accounting firm.

Nkiru earns 50 million naira per month from the CBN, which exceeds Cardi’s own salary as governor and is higher than what the deputy governors receive. Her salary is also significantly greater than the combined earnings of 15 directors, each of whom makes less than 3 million naira a month.

Meanwhile, Ms. Dafinone’s monthly salary is 35 million naira, reportedly more than the total salaries of 10 directors. However, it has been pointed out that her role as a consultant is not clearly defined; she mainly carries out tasks assigned to her by Mr. Cardoso. Recently, he tasked her with developing a controversial early exit program to offer voluntary retirements to at least 1,000 employees, a decision made without engaging the bank’s human resources department, which typically handles such matters.

The two women have received the derisive nickname “Cardoso women” within the bank. One source laughed when asked for further explanation, implying that the meaning was apparent.

Africa Soft Power Group Boss, Belonwu

CBN directors have claimed that Mr. Cardoso appointed the women as consultants without following proper procedures, lacking established terms of reference, deliverables, and deadlines. Concerns were raised regarding Nkiru’s position as a corporate communication consultant since the CBN already has a well-staffed communication department led by a director.

A staff member expressed discontent, asking, “Why do you abuse your position to hire friends and family and make them rich like this? It’s disturbing because even Emefiele, despite his flaws, did not behave with such recklessness.”

There are worries that these consultants provide little value to the bank, with suggestions that the governor is simply benefiting them due to their friendships. With 29 experienced directors, 170 deputy directors, and over 400 PhD holders within CBN, the necessity of hiring these consultants has been called into question.

Culled From Premium Times