CBN may compel banks to notify it before sacking staff

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has said that banks would be required to notify it and also offer explanations before sacking staff up to a certain number.

A representative of the apex bank, Kolawole Balogun, stated this on Friday at an interactive meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige and other stakeholders in the banking and finance sector in Abuja on Friday.

According to him, it was possible for the banks to make profit with a reasonable number of staff.

“We have looked at our laws in terms of our limitations. In as much as we cannot impose staff on any bank, we can engage them on other solutions and that is what we are doing now,” he said.

“We have even gone a step further to look at how we can, not in terms of regulation but in terms of knowing why they are actually disengaging their staff.

“We will soon come up with a circular for the banks to ensure that if they are going to disengage up to a certain number of staff they should let us know and explain why.

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“Although times are challenging at the moment, they can still manage to keep some level of their staff and remain profitable.”

Speaking at the meeting, the minister said commercial banks must obey the country’s labour laws.

“You must obey all laws of the land, including labour laws, such as the Trade Union Act, T14 law of the federation concerning redundancy and the Trade Dispute Act, which deals with the management of trade disputes including employee-employers’ relationship,” Ngige said.

“The ILO takes very seriously the issue of workers maltreatment in various guises, be it in the industries, construction sites or public service. Workers should be treated with dignity and decency.”

Ngige also warned that government would not tolerate disobedience of labour laws and regulations by financial institutions operating in the country.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews

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