First Bank Fires Over 100 Staff, Freezes Accounts Over ₦40 Billion Fraud Scandal
First Bank of Nigeria, has terminated the contract of over 100 employees, including both full-time and contract staff, following a massive fraud scandal that rocked the company in July 2024.
According to Tech Cabal, the mass firing happens just four months after the discovery that Tijani Muiz Adeyinka, a manager in the bank is accused of embezzling over ₦40 billion in a period of two years.
The report indicates that Adeyinka, who is still missing, took advantage of his role to approve fake financial transactions to accounts he secretly managed. Even though the fraudulent activity was large-scale and went on for two years without being discovered, First Bank management team believed that Adeyinka’s bosses should have detected the suspicious activities sooner.
At least 120 employees from First Bank’s operations department reportedly received termination notices in July, including the head of transactions at the time. They were accused of failing to detect the fraud and were blamed for supervisory negligence.
“The CEO said there will be zero tolerance for supervisory negligence,” Tech Cabal quoted an anonymous employee revealed.
It was also reported that employees of the bank was also interrogated by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and held at the Lion’s Building for at least six hours.
