Skye Bank Defies Federal Government Directives.

Skye Bank yesterday sacked many of its staff as the economic crisis continues while defying Federal Government's directive not to retrench workers.

Skye Bank Plc on Monday defied Federal Government order to sack over 175 of its staff. The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, on Friday directed the banks to stop the retrenchment exercise.

In a statement released yesterday, the bank said the sack affected only workers who failed the 2015 appraisal exercise.

The statement read in part, “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.”

Just last week, Diamond Bank Plc retrenched over 200 members of its workforce, while Ecobank Nigeria sacked over 1,040 of its employees, in response to the difficulties in the economy.

FBN Holdings, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, had recently said it would cut down the number of its employees by 1,000. Source: tori.ng

Opinion: The federal government cannot not tell the banks not to retrench. The are private entities. Rather, the federal government should consider ways to support the banks not to retrench, may be give them some sort of tax holiday etc.