The Association of Senior Staff of Bank, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) said at the weekend that 5000 of its members lost their jobs in the last three weeks.
The union also said there are indications that banks will further shed their workforce in another few months.
President of the Association Comrade Olusoji Salako stated this in an interview with our correspondent and stressing that the development is a sad commentary on the nation’s banking sector.
He said: “The information we are having is not palatable. You will understand that this has been happening since 2009. It is something we thought could have been abated by now but it is like it is not.
“It shows that something is still not right with our banking sector. All the reforms, efforts and intervention of government have not yielded the desired result in the sector.”
Salako, who traced the woes in the sector to the exploit of ‘cowboys in 1990’s,’ said the regulator gave them the opportunity to rake in more money with recapitalization and consolidation of the banking sector.
“With more funds at their disposal, they were able to build megabanks and the nation threw caution to the wind,” he said.
Salako also expressed doubts on the ability of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to put troubled banks in Nigeria on tracks.
He said the agency’s mandatein the sector is not well defined by the Federal Government.
“The creation of AMCON has not helped the banking sector because the moment you begin doing things with dubious intention, then there is a problem. If AMCON wants to be fair, it should come out in clear terms stating its intervention, who will lose and who will gain,” he said.
Commenting on the problems bedeviling the banking sector, Salako said it is persisting because the government has not developed the right political will to implement its own policy.
According to him, the regulator in the banking sector has not helped as it closed its eyes while funds are looted in the failed banks.
Source: Daily Trust
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