SHAREHOLDERS have asked President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the recent nationalisation of three banks to avoid discouraging foreign direct investment into the country.
They warned that the nationalisation of the banks might hinder the actualization of Jonathan's transformation agenda in the country.
But workers in the banking sector under the aegis of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) have lauded government for what they described as a timely intervention to save the banks.
President, ASSBIFI, Mr. Sunday Salako, at the weekend told journalists that but for the intervention of the regulatory authorities the jobs of over 11,000 workers of the banks would have been in jeopardy.
President of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) Dr. Sonny Nwosu, said the mechanism used by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in nationalising the three banks was illegal, stressing that due process was not followed and that the country's constitution allowed government to be sued for wrongdoings.
Nwosu said in an interview on a local television station monitored by The Guardian in Lagos at the weekend, that time had come for Jonathan to speak out in the interest of the investing public and the country at large, stressing that failure to comment on the matter may have a severe effect on his proposed transformation agenda to ensure that Nigeria's economy becomes one of the world's best economies in 2015.
According to Nwosu, the way the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) through the CBN acquired the banks was illegal in all ramifications, because the September 30 deadline fixed for the banks has not come yet, adding that the association has instituted a litigation against government to contest the acquisition.
The three banks acquired by AMCON were Spring Bank Plc, Afribank Plc and Bank PHB, thus, replacing their names with Enterprise Bank Limited, Mainstreet Bank Limited and Keystone Bank Limited respectively.
Nwosu explained that the circumstances in which the banks were acquired did not follow duly laid down procedure or requirement, noting that those appointed to man or run the nationalised banks were doing so at their own risk.
Salako urged the regulatory authorities to also nationalise the remaining troubled banks suggesting that as the only solution to their crisis.
Salako said that ASSBIFI as a stakeholder took out time to weigh the pros and cons of the development to find out what would be its consequence on parties involved, especially the workers.
Salako noted that of all the reforms that had taken place in the banking sector, that of last week was the first time that banks were nationalised. "In the past, it would have been outright liquidation. In outright liquidation, it means all the three major stakeholders, comprising workers, customers and the shareholders will lose. There will be no workers, no shareholders and there will be no depositors because NDIC will come in and wind up the entire business as we had in the past- 1989-1991 and 2009 when some banks were not allowed to die naturally," he said.
ASSBIFI noted that this time around, what the regulators had done was to ensure that some stakeholders lost and these were the shareholders. ''When we talk about shareholders they include the workers too.''
According to him, the association was particularly happy because ''we have realized that the workers' jobs are intact. In all the three banks we have about 11, 000 workers.
"If you multiply that by the number of people an individual worker feeds then we' ll be talking about 100,000 mouths or more. Frankly, by this exercise people have been saved the agony of looking for food to eat as jobs of the their benefactors would have become victims", Salako said.
The Guardian