The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has called on banks shareholders across Nigeria to surrender some parts of the profits they had enjoyed in the past, for the fight against coronavirus, instead of the move by one of the banks to retrench workers, which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers Committee have halted on track .
Oshiomhole, who was once national president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said: “from records, our banks have been doing well in the past years by making profits that put smiles on the faces of shareholders.
“I am sure that such shareholders, being patriots themselves, won’t mind sacrificing a fraction of their profits for 2020 to preserve jobs and ensure that workers and their dependents don’t suffer on account of job losses.”
The APC boss commended the CBN and bankers committee for intervening in the move by a bank to sack many of its workers, saying: “I must commend the Central Bank and the Bankers Committee for their patriotic intervention on behalf of bank workers against the reported plan by one of the top banks to embark on mass retrenchment as their own response to the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“While there is no doubt that these are tough times nationally, continentally and globally, I am of the opinion that what the moment demands is creative thinking to minimise the social costs. Job losses only mean plunging more people into hardship and trauma.
“As President Muhammadu Buhari has said, more creativity is what is needed at this moment to cut waste and get our priorities right at all levels.
“Reassuringly, President Buhari has already taken the initiative by setting up a high-powered think-tank headed by no less a person than Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to draw up an action plan to help the nation mitigate the consequences of this global problem. I am confident that, with all of us working together, the nation will emerge from this challenge even stronger.”
In a viral video that trended last week, the Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, was quoted as dropping hint of massive job cut in the bank as well as downward review of salaries as part of the bank’s response to the challenges imposed by coronavirus pandemic.
And in a resolution at the weekend, CBN and the Bankers Committee barred any bank from sacking any worker, whether temporary or permanent ones.
