The Federal Government has implored banks financial institutions and insurance companies to shelve the ongoing retrenchment in the sector.
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige rolled out this directive in Abuja on Friday.
Dr. Ngige said his office had received various complaints from those affected victims of the exercise.
He warned that any action taken in that regard would be viewed as illegal.
The minister said all stakeholders in the sector will be meeting with government on July 2nd to work out an amicable solution.
Here’s a statement from Dr. Ngige’s office;
“Following spate of petitions and complaints from stakeholders in the banking, insurance and financial institutions, I hereby direct the suspension of the on-going retrenchment pending the outcome of the conciliatory meetings in the industry,” he said in a statement.
“This is as a result of the apprehension by my office of the various disputes in the sector in accordance and in compliance with the provisions of the labour laws of Nigeria.
“In this wise, all the retrenchments and redundancies done in the last four months and all proposed ones should be put on hold pending the outcome of the proposed stakeholders’ summit for the banking, insurance and financial institutions’ employers and employees, slated for July 2.”
Earlier this week, Diamond and Ecobank sacked over a thousand of their worker.
While Diamond Bank reported that it was currently rightsizing with a view of enhancing value for its shareholders amongst other reasons, Ecobank did not come out with any official release.
Commercial banks around the country have been sacking employees in the last one year as the effect of the fall in oil prices hits hard on the economy.
The combination of unemployment and underemployment rate was reported as 31.2% by the National Bureau of Statistics with over 500,000 jobs lost in Q1 alone.
