YVONNE ISHOLA writes on the plight of about 60 successful Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recruits who, despite receiving employment offers in 2023, resigning from their previous jobs and fulfilling every employment requirement, have remained in limbo for nearly two years. Their prolonged wait has plunged many into financial hardship, emotional trauma and uncertainty, prompting desperate appeals for intervention by President Tinubu and other relevant authorities
About 60 newly recruited Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) staff from the 2023 recruitment exercise continue to lament prolonged delays in their deployment, with many saying they received provisional offer letters as early as August 2023 but are yet to be officially posted.
The recruits completed documentation, resigned from their previous jobs and signed offer letters in late 2023.
Two years later, they remain unboarded.
The recruits, drawn from across the country, say the prolonged wait has taken a heavy financial and emotional toll on them.
‘We resigned, submitted everything, then silence’
Speaking on Channels Television’s programme anchored by Hajara Aliyu, Mr Emmanuel Linus and Yakubu Yerima said the CBN invited them to its Abuja headquarters about a month after the recruitment, medical and aptitude tests to collect their offer letters, which they did.
“In the offer letter, we were asked to accept if we were interested, which we did,” Yerima explained.
He explained that resigning from their former jobs and submitting acknowledged resignation letters were conditions for the employment, and they complied.
Yerima painted a pathetic picture of one recruit who sold his cars to pay his children’s school fees.
“He had put in ten years as a banker,” only to face dryness and lack for two years running, and still counting, in Nigeria’s harsh economy, he said.
To draw attention to their plight, the recruits held a press conference months ago at the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bauchi.
Mr Emmanuel Dabo, speaking for the group, said they followed due process but the call to resume never came.
“After completing the interview, medical screening and aptitude test, successful candidates were contacted by HR and invited to CBN headquarters in Abuja to collect offer letters,” Dabo said.
“We filled and returned our acceptance. HR sent multiple emails asking us to submit credentials, including acknowledged resignation letters, which we did.”
At that point, he said, their hopes were high.
Then silence followed.
“A year passed, now a second year. We have been living as unemployed Nigerians, a situation most of us had long left behind while thriving in the labour market.”
Hardship deepens as uncertainty persists
Dabo said some recruits had to choose between returning home to serve or staying abroad.
“Unfortunately, their hopes have been dashed.
“Most are adversely affected by harsh economic realities that bite like the scorching sun at peak heat season.”
He corroborated Yerima’s claim that some recruits have slipped into depression.
“Everything boils down to money. When an adult who used to pay bills suddenly goes dry, problems don’t go away, they multiply.”
With families to cater for, the recruits face rent, school fees, power bills and medical costs.
“Such nitty-gritties are enough to send one into depression,” Dabo said.
In one case, colleagues contributed N3,000 each to help a member.
Mrs Edwina Idoga, a teacher employed by the Federal Ministry of Education but yet to resume, said: “I wish the government would explain the situation to our children’s schools.
“They keep demanding fees and refuse to understand that I’m a single parent who resigned for a better offer, but we’re yet to resume.”
Investigations show others are also stuck. An anonymous recruit of the National Steel Council said their situation mirrors the CBN case.
Aptitude tests, medical examinations, resignation from previous employment and documentation were completed since last year, with only informal promises afterwards.
“I heard it whispered that we were not captured in the budget, though nothing official,” the recruit said.
Calls for intervention grow louder
Dabo disclosed that the group wrote several reminder letters to the CBN management and to the current governor from 2023 to 2025 but got no reply.
Unofficially, sources linked the delay to the massive restructuring under CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, which involved laying off hundreds of staff and relocating departments.
No official directive or resumption date has been issued.
The recruits are now pleading with President Bola Tinubu to intervene.
“Let him use his good office to insist the right thing be done,” Idoga said, adding she wonders where her next rent will come from.
Observers say government must set up a commission of enquiry and carry the Ministry of Labour along to determine why citizens are suffering for no fault of theirs.
The recruits say they need closure — to know whether to keep hoping or move on.