NUBIFIE shuts Ecobank head office

The National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE), on Thursday shut Ecobank Nigeria headquarters in Lagos. This followed sack of 900 workers of the lender nationwide.

The union said it will continue with the picketing of the bank until management of Ecobank ensures the sacked workers get their severance package.

NUBIFIE President, Comrade Anthony Abakpa, said the union would not accept the unilateral peanut of take it or leave it attitude of the bank, where he argued that most painful part of the whole unlawful retrenchment was the alleged fraud perpetrated by the bank in connivance with the outsourcing firms.

He said picketing continues today and other branches in Lagos, and if no cogent agreement were reached, “we would shut down their branches nationwide,” he said.

But in a statement, Ecobank Nigeria said it did not disengage its staff. “The bank decided not to renew the contract of its third party recruitment agencies which expired recently and as such returned this category of personnel back to these agencies who are their employers. As a demonstration of the Bank’s concern and compassion for the affected personnel of our contractors, palliative measures were put in place by the Bank to cushion the effect on them.”

These include payment of contract cessation packages of over N500 million already paid through their employers as well as opportunity given to those with requisite qualification to apply to the Bank for permanent employment,” the bank said.

-The Nation