Nigerian Bank Nigeria CBN Central Bank Of Nigeria – Mass Sack – Govt Orders Banks To Obey Labour Laws

Source Daily Champoin: Akor Sylvester, January 8th 2010

Abuja — Federal Government yesterday faulted banks over the on-going mass sack of workers, directing the management of the 24 banks the country to put the retrenchment exercise on hold. It also disclosed plans to review the process of the disengagement of those already sacked.

This directive is coming as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) denied reports that it directed banks to cut down on their staff strength in order to remain stable.

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, while addressing management team of CBN and three commercial banks namely, Intercontinental Bank, United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Oceanic Bank expressed dissatisfaction over the huge job losses in the nation’s financial sector.

“We must keep people at work and if there is any adjustment in the banking sector as a result of the present global financial crisis, it must be done in accordance with the labour laws, if not it is not acceptable,” he said.

He instructed management of the banks to dialogue with the respective labour unions to review the ongoing rightsizing exercise.

He said: “As long as the unions exist in banks, the management of the banks must discuss and dialogue with them before any action is taken on them. If it does not work that way, you can come to the ministry for our intervention and not after the sack. It is unacceptable to us.”

He urged the banks to always comply with the due process and the labour laws in any action taken on workers adding that government had put modalities in place to ensure smooth relationship between the banks and the workers.

Though he acknowledged that pay cut cannot be avoided in the banking sector as a result of harsh environment and the present financial crisis, he however said the pay slash must be across the board and must be done in accordance with due process.

Speaking at the occasion, secretary general of Trade Union Congress (TUC) John Kolawole; head of Industrial Relations for Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Owei Lakemfa; national president of Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) Sani Lasisi accused the banks of ignoring due process in the mass sack.

They also said extant labour laws were abused in the exercise.

Kolawole said in line with due process, “issues like these must be discussed with the unions. We have discovered that nobody has done that. It automatically means that they did not obey the law. It automatically means that whatever they have done is null and void. If we cannot reverse, we must put a stop to it now and that no other exercise like that will take place until due process is followed because I discovered that immediately you made that pronouncement, some banks rushed to send people out in anticipation that by the time they come here if there was going to be any difficulty they will say we’ve already done it.”

Lakemfa pointed out that the CBN, through a circular, directed all the 24 banks to reduce their workforce by 30 percent and overhead after the injection of the N620 billion bail-out fund.

In their defense, CBN deputy governor, Sule Labaran, managing director of Oceanic Bank John Aboh and managing director of Intercontinental Bank Mahmoud Lai Alabi argued that the decision was done painstakingly but aimed at protecting the interest of shareholders.

Nigerian Bank Nigeria CBN Central Bank Of Nigeria, Intercontinental Bank Plc, Oceanic Bank International Plc, UBA United Bank for Africa