First Bank of Nigeria, PLC has reportedly laid off 100 of its senior staff. This recent development was reported by Nairametrics, a Nigerian online news source.
This move comes a month after the bank sacked its Head of Corporate Communications Department, Folake Ani-Mumuney.
The Bank did not give reasons why it laid off its staff at such a large scale and all efforts to reach the Brand and Stakeholder Management team at the time of publication proved abortive.
However, the layoff exercise can be gleaned as part of the Chairman and other top leaders of the bank’s move to place new individuals in the Bank’s executive seats.
Nairametrics reported that while some senior executives were laid off, others voluntarily resigned. It added that the shakeup also affected a prominent executive director whose tenure was not renewed over mutually agreed circumstances.
It should be recalled that in March 2024, FBN Holdings appointed 5 new directors to its board. This was designed to introduce new expertise and revitalise the bank’s operations.
Later in May of the same year, Tunde Odukale stepped down as Chairman of First Bank Limited, and Ebenezer Olufowose was appointed in his stead.
In June, the Bank named Olusegun Alebiosu as Managing Director and Ini Ebong as Deputy Managing Director, both tasked with bolstering the bank’s operational efficiency. By October, Wale Oyedeji was appointed Group Managing Director of FBN Holdings Plc.
More drastic changes were made at the insistence of the Bank Group’s Chairman, Femi Otedola, resulting in the sack of the Bank’s Head of Corporate Communications department.
The sack order resulted from the lavish resignation party Folake Ani-Mumuney threw for then Managing Director Adesola Adeduntan, who was forced to resign following an alleged negligence in a ₦60 billion fraud.
In all of these events, the Bank’s performance on the Nigerian Exchange continued impressively with its share price up 18.47 percent year-to-date. The bank is also well on its way to achieving its recapitalisation goals following the successful closure of its N149.5 billion rights issue on Monday, December 30.
