Labour queries ‘hasty’ nationalisation of Afribank, Bank PHB, Spring Bank

WORKERS in the financial sector have  faulted what they termed hasty nationalisation of Afribank, Bank PHB and Spring Bank by government, saying it has left many questions unanswered.

Speaking under the aegis of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI, the workers wondered why  government and its agents did not wait till the September 30 deadline given to the banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to recapitalize before nationalising them.


The association, in a statement by Comrade Emeka Ogene and Comrade Obukese Orere, President and Secretary General respectively, described the nationalization as shocking.
According to ASSBIFI, “The news of the nationalization of  Afribank, Bank PHB and Spring Bank on Friday, August 5, by the financial authorities, took Nigerians by surprise. The surprise is from the fact that these three banks and another batch of five, taken over in 2009 by the CBN, were given up till 30 September, 2011 to recapitalize or get core investors or be nationalized or liquidated.

While the Labour community feels that the time limit for these actions to be taken by the banks was too short, the authorities could not wait for their mandatory period to elapse before the Friday takeover. From the Friday night shocking action on these banks, certain questions must be urgently answered.

“Where on earth were these so-called bridge banks before now? What is the pedigree of these bridge banks? Were they going concerns? If the action is to guarantee the depositors funds in these dead banks, what is the fate of depositors’ funds? What is the guarantee level for the workers in these dead banks knowing that they were fully unionized? Why has the CBN imposed executive management teams on these banks, which have failed in their mission after two years, still being allowed to go scot-free?

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