.Reps Probe Panel
JONAS onas EZIEKE , Abuja
An adhoc committee of the House of Representatives of the 10th National Assembly probing the forceful retirement of over 1000 staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has promised fair hearing to all parties involved in the matter.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Bello Kumo gave the assurance at the take-off of the hearing on the matter at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
The probe panel chairman was however displeased over the absence of the Governor of the CBN, Mr. Yemi Cardoso, after being invited.
Bello who is also the Chief Whip of the House also expressed dissatisfaction over the absence of the Labour and Employment Minister, Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi.
The hearing was initially scheduled to hold on Wednesday but had to be moved to Thursday due to the 2025 budget presentation ceremony by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Bello however applauded a representative of the Federal Character Commission who honoured the invitation of the committee.
Bello warned that the committee would be left with no choice but to sanction government officials who failed to honour the committee’s invitation.
He said a new date for the hearing would be communicated to them in due course.
“We are guided by our laws. We will not allow anybody to take us for granted. Let me be clear on this, any day we fix again and any of the organisations that refuse to show up, we will apply the law.
“The committee would not shirk its responsibility in not only ensuring fair hearing to all parties involved in the saga,” he said.
Earlier on, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas acknowledged that the impact of the CBN action would be felt by not only the individual workers affected and their families, but the whole country.
He charged the committee to do due diligence on ascertaining the formulae used in computing the N50 billion pay off amount to the affected workers.
He urged them to ensure due process was adhered to.
He also charged the committee to ensure that the decision to relieve the workers of their jobs aligns with global best practices and extant provisions of the law.
