The Federal Government has directed banks, insurance and financial institutions to suspend the on-going retrenchment in the sector.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige in a statement he signed in Abuja on Friday and made available to newsmen.
The minister in the statement said: “following spate of petitions and complaints from stakeholders in the banking, insurance and financial institutions, I hereby direct the suspension of the on-going retrenchment pending the outcome of the conciliatory meetings in the industry.
“This is as a result of the apprehension by my office of the various disputes in the sector in accordance and in compliance with the provisions of the labour laws of Nigeria,” he explained.
“In this wise, all the retrenchments and redundancies done in the last four months and all proposed ones should be put on hold.
“Pending the outcome of the proposed stakeholders’ summit for the banking, insurance and financial institutions’ employers and employees, slated for the first week of July 2,” the statement stated.
In the past few months there news of several banks retrenching a good proportion of their staff members claiming they are restructuring for effectiveness.
Most analysts expressed surprise at the directive asking if the Federal Government has the power to direct a company as how to manage their work force.
Among others, it would be recalled that Ecobank Nigeria early in the week announced restructuring exercise in the bank. Its Managing Director, Mr Charles Kie, said in a statement that the bank realigned certain roles to ensure improved efficiency. This he said necessitated the exit of some staff whom he said were adequately compensated.
According Business247, the bank was not specific about the number of staff members that were relieved of their jobs, a source at the bank, however, said up to 1,000 staff members might have been affected.
He said that this was also in furtherance of a market repositioning exercise designed to strengthen the bank’s business across all markets where it operates.
According to him, the Ecobank Group was on a trajectory to achieve leadership and “Ecobank Nigeria remains one of ETI’s major affiliates as well as one of Nigeria’s systemically important financial institutions.”
The conversion of 200 out-sourced staff into a permanent positions in line with its commitment “to develop and grow talent by nurturing its people”, according to the bank was also part of its drive to attract and reward talent and reposition the bank for improved efficiency.
“This is in furtherance of a market repositioning exercise designed to strengthen the bank’s business across all markets where it operates. Our focus is to improve the quality of service to our customers as well as our operational efficiency.
“We understand that people are our key asset, so we have emphasised the need to reward our best performers to re-invigorate our people while also opening up new opportunities for talented, committed people to join us as permanent employees.
“At the same time, based on our repositioning plan, we had to disengage some staff while ensuring that, in line with industry standards, they are treated fairly”, he stated.
The same bank in February sacked about 50 senior managers as part of measures which it said was to save cost. The top officials laid off by the bank then were general managers, deputy general managers and assistant general managers, among others.
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