NAN-H-97
Recession
Chinyere Bassey
Lagos, Jan. 25, 2017 (NAN) Workers in the financial sector on Wednesday bemoaned the effect of the current economic recession, which has resulted in massive job losses and swelled the unemployment rate.
Mrs Oyinkan Olasanoye, President, Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) spoke at a stakeholders forum with representatives of workers in Lagos.
Olasanoye said it was time the managers of the economy designed policies that would bail the nation out and end the suffering of Nigerians.
“The economic recession has taken its toll on people, institutions and organisations. Its manifestation is seen in the escalating job losses, unemployment, hunger and poverty.
“As the situation bites harder, factories and businesses are not only increasingly finding it difficult to pay salaries, they are also closing shop amidst unrealistic expectations,” she said.
The ASSBIFI president said that presently, the union was discussing with the Federal Government on how the banks could benefit from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
According to her, TSA has not made banking operations easy, and if the government will implement some of its suggestions, things will improve.
”We suggested to the government to split its agencies among the banks or give the funds accumulated so far to the banks as loan to boost their operation,” she said.
Olasanoye further said that she acknowledged the hard times faced by employers, but there was the need to seek more tolerable ways of managing the situation rather than retrenchment of workers en masse.
She warned that increasing rate of unemployment had the potential to further hurt the economy.
“It is a fact that every organisation has the right to protect its interest and thus create modalities for its survival in this harsh economic condition. However, we should always ask whether downsizing and retrenchment should be first option.
“We in ASSBIFI believe that there are ways employers and employees could use this tough period to reinvent strategic partnership,” the union leader said. (NAN)
CHIN/SOA
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Edited by Oluwole Sogunle