Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Olayemi Cardoso is facing intense criticism over allegations of paying two ‘mystery women’ a staggering N85 million monthly while granting them more authority than the bank’s deputy governors.
Recall that Cardoso assumed duties as CBN governor on 22 September 2023 after Godwin Emefiele was sacked over gross financial mismanagement and abuse of office.
According to Premium Times, some insiders said the women arrived with him that day at the bank. But some sources said the women only joined days later and have remained at the regulatory institution ever since, sparking suspicion and debate about their relationship with the governor, value to the institution, and huge monthly pay.
The women at the centre of this raging controversy are Nkiru Balonwu, founder of The Africa Soft Power Group, and Daphne Dafinome, a chartered accountant and chief operating officer of Crowe Dafinone, a Nigerian accounting firm.
There is a third “technical consultant” called Shola Phillips who joined Mr Cardoso’s kitchen cabinet from Citibank. But our sources said Shola’s presence and activities have not been as disruptive and controversial as those of her two colleagues just as the terms of her engagement are not immediately clear.
The consultants are now mockingly called “Cardoso women” across the bank. One source giggled when our reporter requested a further explanation of the term. “You should be able to decode what that means yourself,” the official said.
Directors at the CBN said Mr Cardoso arbitrarily hired the women as consultants without following laid down rules, with no terms of reference, deliverables or timelines for the delivery of their consultancies.
For instance, they queried the hiring of Ms Balonwu as a corporate communication consultant when the CBN has an elaborate, efficient, and well-staffed corporate communication department led by a director and tasked with ensuring effective, timely and qualitative internal and external communication engagement and feedback.
On the other hand, insiders said Ms Dafinone’s consultancy role is not clearly defined; she merely takes on any responsibility assigned to her by Mr Cardoso. Only recently, the governor tasked her with designing and implementing a controversial early exit programme to pay off at least 1,000 staff members into voluntary retirements. Mr Cardoso tapped her for this role while bypassing the bank’s human resources department, which is statutorily charged with developing and administering human capital management policies, functions and processes.
It should noted that the CBN has four deputy governors: Emem Usoro (Corporate Services Directorate), Muhammad Dattijo (Economic Policy Directorate), Philip Ikeazor (Financial System Stability Directorate), and Bala Bello (Operations Directorate). However, staff members now derisively refer to Ms Balonwu and Dafinone as the fifth and sixth deputy governors of the bank, saying the two have amassed so much power to be so called.
Directors said the consultants now write memos on CBN letterheads, issuing directives even when they are unknown to the bank’s structure and organogram.
“They said they are consultants, but they have permanent offices in the bank, and their consultancies have no end dates,” one director said. “I am tempted to say they are even more influential than the deputy governors. Their offices are on the eleventh floor, just like the governor’s. The deputy governors are on the tenth floor, below the so-called consultants. They even bypass deputy governors to give direct instructions to directors.”
Another bank insider corroborated the director’s claim, saying he once overheard one of the women boasting that “if she draws a line at the bank, even the governor dare not cross it”.
“I can tell you the women are the real people running the CBN. Cardoso has become a mere figurehead,” a third director said.
Staff members also accuse Mr Cardoso of paying the women obscene salaries. For instance, Ms Balonwu, they said, pockets N50 million naira monthly, earning more than the governor and the deputy governors. Her salary also dwarfs the combined pay of 15 directors, who earn below N3 million monthly.
On her part, Ms Dafinone earns N35 million monthly, said to be higher than the combined salaries of 10 directors.
“Why do you abuse your office to engage family and friends and make them millionaires this way? a staff member lamented. “It is disturbing because even Emefiele, with all his weaknesses, did not act with this impunity.
“These women are doing nothing. They are not adding any value to the bank. The governor is just enriching them because they are his friends. There are 29 experienced directors, 170 deputy directors, and over 400 PhD holders in CBN. There is no need to domicile consultants in the bank.”
What the law says about hiring consultants
According to Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act 2007, government agencies are required to conduct transparent and competitive processes when hiring consultants.
The Act mandates that consultancy opportunities be publicly advertised—typically in at least two national newspapers and the official procurement journal—with clear submission guidelines, defined terms of reference, and detailed evaluation criteria.
Proposals must be assessed separately on technical merit and cost, ensuring that only qualified candidates are engaged and that the process remains fair and accountable.
In contrast, the apparent arbitrary appointment of the so-called “consultants” at the CBN—hired without defined deliverables or competitive process, and earning salaries that dwarf those of senior executives—raises serious questions.
Their hiring appears to violate the strict procedures outlined in the Act, which are designed to safeguard public funds and ensure value for money.
