The Chief Executives of Banks in Nigeria may have hearkened to the threat by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige to withdraw their license if they do not suspend the ongoing mass retrenchment in their banks.
At the end of the Bankers Committee meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, the executives agreed to “minimize exits” from their banks in view of the challenges facing the economy.
They however, said the sack of workers found to be wanting in the system will continue.
The Managing Director/CEO of Standard Chartered Nigeria, Mrs. Bola Adesola, made the Bankers Committee’s position known in a press briefing at the end of their meeting yesterday.
Close to two thousand bank staff were sacked in the last two weeks amid economic crisis, leading the minister to issue a statement last week directing financial institutions, especially banks, to suspend the retrenchment exercise pending the outcome of conciliatory meetings in the industry.
Mr. Ngige, however, was forced to announce that the federal government may revoke the licenses of banks and telecommunication companies that ignore his directive to stop mass sack of workers, following reports on Tuesday that 200 staff of Skye Bank were laid off.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Mrs Adesola said “Banks in the country are looking at ways to ensure that we minimise exits from our institutions. There will always be exits if there is fraud and so forth, people will exit institutions”.
She said banks pulling back on retrenching workers is not new stressing that “it is something we have discussed in the past where the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor prevailed on the banks to minimise any exits from the institutions”.
The Standard Chartered, Nigeria, CEO added that “Banks understand the implication of people not being in employment. So, we noted the market sentiments and going forward it will be difficult but there will be reasons why people will exit not just in the banking industry but in telecoms and other industries. It is something that we will manage”.
