The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions on Wednesday warned commercial banks against sacking workers because of the introduction of the Treasury Single Account policy by the Federal Government.
The President of ASSBIFI, Mr. Sunday Salako, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
Salako argued that retrenching workers would worsen the Nigerian economy and engender untold hardships among workers, especially those employed in the banking sector.
He advised banks not to be in a hurry to cut jobs because “government can reverse the policy if it becomes harmful to the economy.”
He added, “Employers should not be in a hurry to cut jobs just because of a single policy. Before the policy, banks were making money and declaring fabulous balance sheets.
“The government can look at the policy and reverse it, if they believe it can harm the economy.
Salako pointed out, however, that the huge sum, totaling about N1.2tr, moved out of the commercial banks to the CBN because of the TSA, could affect the economy.
According to him, anything that can affect the liquidity of banks will also affect their lending ability to power the economy.
He said the only agent that could kick-start the economy and make it robust was the banking sector, arguing that if such money was taken from them and given to government’s banker, the CBN, to keep, such a policy could harm commercial banks.
Salako added that ASSBIFI had yet to advise government on the TSA because the union believed the goal of the policy was to fight corruption and re-build the economy.
“We want to be fair to the government; maybe in the process of finding a way to tackle corruption, TSA is the measure recommended to them.
“But with the policy and seeing the reactions of Nigerians, they can look at these reactions and try to harmonise the best way to move the country forward if the policy is not yielding the desired result,’’ he said.
The ASSBIFI chief restated the association’s opposition to casualisation and exploitation of workers, especially in the banking sector.
He argued that casualisation was partly responsible for the persistent fraud in the banking sector that had been taking its toll on the economy.
Salako added, “The eradication of out-sourcing of employment or casualisation of casual workers will, to a large extent, reduce sharp practices in banking operations.
“Casualisation has been blamed for robbery cases in the banks. Everybody who works in this sector must be employed as a full staff member. This has been the position of ASSBIFI since 2007.”
NAN
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