The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has hailed the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers Committee by moving against the reported plan by a top bank to retrench workers.
In a viral video that trended last week, the Managing Director of Access Bank, Mr. 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 COVID-19 pandemic.
But in a resolution at the weekend, CBN and the Bankers Committee barred any bank from sacking any worker, whether temporary or permanent ones.
Responding on Monday, Comrade Oshiomhole, a former national president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), described the order as patriotic.
His statement reads: “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.
“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.”
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