Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured Nigerians that bank workers who had been in fears of losing their jobs any moment, that their jobs are no longer in jeopardy.
The CBN director, banking supervision, Tokunbo Martins made the assurance on Wednesday, October 12, after the bankers committee meeting held in Lagos state nigeria, the media reports. Martins said according to the meeting, banks were will not retrench their staff (workers) going forward.
She called on the bank workers to forget whatever fear about mass retrenchment, adding that those gossips were untrue. “One of the things we discussed during the meeting was about the impending retrenchment in ourbanking industry.
So, we acknowledge that many bank workers are in fears about possible retrenchment in the banking industry. We talked extensively on it and the banks are now committed to not retrenching any staff (workers)from now onwards. So, whatever fears about that mass retrenchment happening or not happening, should be dropped,” Martins said.
Although Martins agreed to the fact that Nigeria’s banks are facing serious economic challenges, she however assured the masses that Nigeria’s financial sector is safe and sound.
She said the lenders “have strong capital buffers to weather the crisis.” She also declared as false the report published bymedia house Arqaam Capital insisting that some Nigerian banks are in serious crisis.
Martins said: “Yes there was talk on the stability of the Nigerian banking sector. But even without the talk, as Director Banking Supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, I can assure you that the report is totally false.
The banks are adequately capitalized, so the news is not true. This does not mean that the banking sector is not feeling the economic downthrown .
The headwinds are also in every other economic sectors of the country. It is not new. So, non-performing loans at 11.7 per cent is not what we should depend on.” She said the banks have the strength to absorb whatever losses that may come up from the level of non-performing loans in the banking industry.
“But the question is do the banks have the capacity to absorb any further loses that would come up? The answer is they do. They have very strong capital buffers. Another important fact is does the banks have the strength to generate huge income to absorb those loses,” she said. “The underlying assets of the banks are still there, and they are in good state.
So, I think you should totally drop or ignore that type of story.
It should be expected to have non-performing loans (NPLs). It is not a good reason why any jurisdiction should be demonized. There are other jurisdictions that have NPLs as high as 15 per cent, 35 per cent and so on.” Meanwhile, Senior lawyer, Femi Falana, has asked the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the Deposit Money Banks over loans claimed to have been granted to them by former governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Falana, according to The Punch newspaper , said it was petinent to know if the huge amount had been paid back to the nations treasury.
