By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini
Senior officials at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are up in arms over the appointment of consultants by Governor Olayemi Cardoso.
The officials accused them of wielding undue influence and earning excessively high salaries.
The consultants, Nkiru Balonwu and Daphne Dafinone, reportedly bypass the bank’s hierarchy, issue directives to directors, and earn significantly more than top executives.
Dafinone, who is set to face a fraud trial, allegedly takes home ₦35 million monthly, while Balonwu earns ₦50 million—surpassing even the CBN governor’s salary.
Their appointment, made without a competitive process, has sparked widespread discontent among CBN staff, who view the salaries as obscene and the consultants’ influence as disruptive to the bank’s operations.