*Nigeria’s Central bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele
By Editor
Following the announcement by the management of Access Bank to sack nearly half a million of its workforce upon resumption after the lockdown, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after a special meeting of the Bankers Committee, which was convened on May 2, 2020, to further review the implications of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the Nigerian banking industry has ordered banks to suspend the planned layoff at least for now.
Had the CBN not stepped in, we learnt that a host of other banks and financial institutions in the country were planning to toe the same line of Access Bank to sack workers upon resumption.
A press release “Bankers Committee Suspend Lay-offs in Banks,” issued on behalf of the CBN to banks by Mr. Isaac Okorafor, the Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN reads, “A special meeting of the Bankers Committee was convened on May 2, 2020, to further review the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian banking industry. The Committee particularly deliberated on the issue of the operating costs of banks in view of the disruptions emanating from the global economic difficulties and decided as follows:
- In order to help minimize and mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on families and livelihoods, no bank in Nigeria shall retrench or lay-off any staff of any cadre (including full-time and part-time).
- To give effect to the above measure, the express approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria shall be required in the event that it becomes absolutely necessary to lay-off any such staff.
The Central Bank of Nigeria solicits the support of all in our collective efforts to weather through the economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
