Skye Bank defies FG, sacks hundreds of workers

      

Despite the embargo which the federal government placed on dismissal of staff in the banking sector, Skye Bank Plc fired 175 staff on Monday.

The current state of the economy has forced another bank to lay off its staff in large numbers despite the federal government warnings to halt the dismissal of employees in the banking sector.

Skye Bank Plc went ahead to dismiss at least 200 staff on Monday, June 6.

According to a statement put out by the bank confirming the new development, it explained that the affected workforce were the ones that failed the year 2015 appraisal exercise and were asked to leave following the bank’s staff exit policy. “The staff disengagement exercise is coming a year after the bank’s successful integration with the erstwhile Mainstreet Bank, which it acquired in October 2014; the integration exercise described by analysts as a landmark in Nigeria’s banking industry has significantly improved Skye Bank’s ICT capacity and helped strengthen the bank’s service delivery.”

“The bank extended its appreciation to the affected staff for serving the bank, describing them as members of the family who will always be accorded deserving respect in their future dealings with the bank.”

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, had on Friday instructed commercial banks to stop firing its staff.

Following a proposed stakeholders’ summit for employers and employees of the banking, insurance and financial sector, Ngige asked that all the retrenchments done in the past four months should be put on hold pending the outcome of the meeting scheduled to take place July 2nd.

“Following the high spate of petitions and complaints from stakeholders in the banking, insurance and financial institutions, I hereby direct the suspension of the ongoing retrenchment in the sector pending the outcome of the conciliatory meetings in the industry,” Ngige had said.

Diamond Bank Plc was the first to lay off over 200 members of staff followed by Ecobank Nigeria with the highest number of retrenched staff at 1,040 while FBN Holdings (First Bank of Nigeria Limited) may still cut down the number of its employees by 1,000.