Introduction by Abi John Balogun (weboga) & Paul Adams How many Bankers OR very well paid Bank Workers you know that have been sacked ? A banker is the guy that knows about banking ,The fellows that actually know what Profit & loss and Risk and Depositors funds as relating to interest means .A banker is not the guy that drives the MD to work or the guy that makes certain the MD hasa nice time on weekends and trips abroad ? Just because you wear a tie to work does not make you a banker .A banker is not the Guy that seats in the Tellers seat and takes a cheque from you and gives you back cash.O yes he may look real important but He aint no Banker ! or even the Nice lady that makes everyone queue up and still manages to get us to smile on cue whilst we wait for the sweet voice to say "Cashier numer X" ,That is a customer Service Representative that works in a Bank ! So why are the Bank Workers getting sacked instead of the Bankers ! Or does'nt the CBN have the right to put a stop to these Layoffs ? The Sacked bank MDs/CEOs can live on their stolen funds that the EFCC will never ever know about for their next Ten Lifetimes ! Cecilia Ibru is one of the Ibrus for crying out loud ! That Family is loaded ! Oceanic Bank is just a drop in the ocean of their Investments . Sanusi I believe has done some good but he has also done some HARM ! great harm in the final de terracing of the common man working in the Bank ! How many of the layabout CEOs,Regional Managers and other Managers that are looked upon as Demi Gods in the Banking industry have been sacked ? Who recommends the sack ? what is the criteria ? Is Bad Belly involved or Sexual harassment and all the Targets every banker is made to cough out monthly used ? Or are they sacking the lowly paid staff in large numbers so that they can keep earning their arm robber salaries ! Why not Publish the names and positions of these people sacked so we can see the cadre and functionality they have been rendering to their respective banks . The ground always suffers when Elephants are fighting ! The Bankers that engaged in unethical practices that put the Nation in this quagmire should be fished out and Sold into depositors funds slavery and made to work back their lossess ! What is a risk management Consultant and you earn a minimum of 2.5million Naira a month as salary .Yet you keep risking and losing money ! IT is like they have all these degrees,appelations and certifications for NOTHING ! Sanusi let it be on your head the families that will bear the brunt of these layoffs because solving one problem and creating another will not absolve you . The monies and properties recovered from these hoodlums in Corporate Suits should be used to subsidise bank workers that have been sacked .There must be some amelioration of some sort or else what are they to do until they "find" Jobs in the already saturated market ! ! ! Sanusi, We await your solutions,Looks like although Soludo had no solutions he at least did not put "San san" inside bank workers garri. Impress us once more as we no longer hear your voice anymore abi you are holding baba go slows hand in saudi or wherever you people are keeping him . Main Article by Next media While our nation’s circus show of shame went on in Abuja and Jeddah last week, another issue of relevance was playing out in the banking industry. And this was the aftermath of Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi’s reforms of the banking sector. Sanusi’s hurricane might have swept through the banking sector, mowing down banks’ chief executives and directors, however, the real casualties are beginning to show, and they are the over 8,000 men and women bearing the brunt of the reforms through job loss. Oceanic Bank, Bank PHB Plc, UBA Plc, First Bank, GTB are laying off workers in response to the fall out from the reforms. It is, on the surface, easy ascribe the retrenchments in the banks on the Sanusi tsunami that took off in the middle of 2009, but the sacking of chief executives and directors was not the immediate cause. Long before the Sanusi putsch many senior bankers made quick money from brisk business in the confines of their offices and lived flamboyant lives comparable to those of celebrities of the entertainment world. Soon, it became clear that despite being a private-sector driven industry the principal actors in the banking business had abandoned all pretence at corporate governance and fiscal accountability, toying with depositors’ money by giving out questionable loans, managing a bloated workforce, doctoring their books to impress the public, and opening unserviceable branches. The result was an over-staffed industry, incurring huge salary bills every month, operational liabilities and losses in excess of N100 billion. In the light of all this, it is not inappropriate to view rationalisation of staff as an expected consequence, if banks are to rightly address this anomaly. The sacked workers are not employees of CBN in the first place and to disabuse the minds of critics that it did not order the retrenchments, the CBN issued a release stating, “... the Central Bank of Nigeria has never directed commercial banks to sack staff or rationalise branches as reported. Banks are private enterprises and the decision to engage or disengage staff is best left to the managements and boards of the institutions. These decisions are taken on the basis of business imperatives”. Nonetheless, our sympathy goes to the affected workers, many of whom are young people either just beginning to live life on their own or raising a family. Given the state of the nation’s economy, losing a well paying job in the bank is a predicament that many people will not take lightly. It is frustrating and depressing. What is being experienced in the industry now should serve as a lesson for future operations, and a pointer to the need for vigilance in monitoring and regulating the banking sector, to guard against the ugly practices that have become the norm in the industry. Chief amongst these are the questionable employment conditions of service for staff, characterised by the practice of ‘casualisation’ of workers and the abuse of female bank staff. Reports are rife to the effect that many banks, rather than properly recruit workers, resort to a cost-saving ad hoc arrangement of periodic hiring and dismissal. This is a practice that devalues the profession and contributes to the lowering of ethical standards of practice. In the same vein, female bank workers are faced with employment conditions that compromise their future plans. Oftentimes, their brief includes unrealistic targets that open them to unethical and immoral practices that compromise their dignity. We view these developments as part of the general corruption that compromised the banking sector where the rot started from the top. We urge the managements of our banks to exhaustively explore all avenues to ensure that the rationalisation is reduced to a barest minimum. One way to do this would be for the banks to reduce staff salaries, especially at senior levels. Some unjustifiable allowances of management staff would very easily pay the wages of significant numbers of persons further down the corporate ladder. Advertising, branding and sponsorship budgets, which ballooned irresponsibly during the consolidation era, as banks struggled to rebrand and reposition themselves within and beyond the country, should be curtailed, and the savings therefrom used to save jobs. We cannot afford to send such a huge number of educated and experienced persons into the job market. Before now, the virtual collapse of entire industries, like textiles and tyre manufacturing, rendered thousands of people jobless. We have to take every step possible to ensure that the banking industry does not complicate an already serious unemployment crisis. The cost of doing this will be nothing compared to the price we will have to pay for the alternative: flooding our streets with jobless professionals who are as desperate as they are savvy.
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