- Oppose retrenchment of workers
- FutureView, Anenih, Utomi, Conoil fault CBN's debtors' list
- EFCC team in Lagos for fresh crackdown
By Enitar Ugwu (Lagos) and Alifa Daniel (Abuja)
The banking industry remained in a gyre yesterday as protests greeted plans by some banks to downsize their workforce and a hale of rebuttals followed the latest high profile bank debtors' list released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday.
While shareholders cautioned the banks against resorting to mass sack of their employees, they canvassed the sale of private jets acquired by some bank chief executive officers (CEOs).
Among those who faulted the debtors' list were the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tony Anenih, Pat Utomi, and Futureview Securities Limited.
The reforms in the banking sector had pushed some of the financial institutions into down-sizing to raise cash, but many Nigerians, especially shareholders, are asking the authorities to look at another avenue for saving cash: The banks' executives' excesses.
Instead of resorting to lay-offs, the shareholders are asking the banks to sell the private jets acquired by their CEOs.
Shareholders have particularly asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to beam its searchlight on the aircraft owned by the bank CEOs, sacked or still in office, dotting the various airports in the country, for possible abuses or even money laundering.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had this week reportedly told the Senate that one of the two sacked bank chiefs now on trial had two aircraft and had paid for another two before the removal. His revelation also contained details of sleazy dealings among the banks'chieftains that ran contrary to the code of good corporate ethics
Sources among the shareholders' association, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the workers' unions in the banks, claimed that over 6,000 bank employees may lose their jobs by next week.
One of the old generation banks had reportedly sacked over 300 workers as at Wednesday and is again warming up to disengage another 3,000 of its 7,000 workforce.
Some of the private jets bought by the bank czars include the Hawker 900 XP and 800 XP, which costs $14.9 million and $13 million each; Challenger Global 5000 which costs about $51 million; Falcon 7X which goes for $49.5 million. Indeed, the value of the private jets, allegedly bought with shareholders' funds, by the bank executives, is put at billions in naira.
Besides, the staggering costs of these jets, cumulatively, about N1 billion is spent yearly on the maintenance of the private jets.
This cost covers landing and parking fees, fuelling, crew members' salaries (who are mostly expatriates), and other costs.
It is in the face of these that shareholders of many banks are at a loss on what to make of the new management insistence on sacking their workers.
Unrealistic revenue targets and impossible performance benchmarks, The Guardian learnt, are being introduced and used to assess workers in order to give a shroud of propriety to the planned down-sizing.
Also, another bank, which was bought into by a new generation bank, has concluded plans to retrench workers who did not meet their revenue target.
The decision to lay off these workers numbering 66 in the South-West regional office of the bank was taken during the region's monthly performance review (MPR) in August.
The workers were expected to rake in a cumulative sum of N11.7 billion before the end of last month or be shown the way out.
Some, The Guardian learnt, have already dropped their letters of resignation.
In another instance, a new generation bank, which also got a new boss in August, is set to downsize half of its workforce on the allegation that the sacked chief executive employed them without due process thereby foistering on the bank a bloated wage bill.
As the CBN released on Wednesday, a fresh list of bank debtors, EFCC operatives flew into Lagos yesterday to begin a crackdown on the debtors.
A source in the commission told The Guardian that EFCC Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, led the team that arrived in Lagos.
The source said with the development, both loan defaulters and indicted bank chiefs would soon be invited by the EFCC as it (EFCC) did in the case of the first five banks.
Anenih, one of the alleged debtors, who is also the chairman of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), said he was neither a director of the company nor owe Spring Bank N2.065 billion as alleged.
He said he had no link with Mettle Energy and Gas Limited that allegedly took the loan.
The PDP leader said he had written a letter to EFCC to investigate the company.
The letter titled: "A matter of urgent national importance: Complaint of fraud," Anenih said: "You must have read some of the national dailies today (yesterday) where the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published that I am a director in Mettle Energy and Gas Ltd and that I am owing N2.065 billion.
"I suspect fraud as I am neither a shareholder nor a director in the said company.
"I should be grateful if you take this my written complaint as a serious one and carry out urgent investigation on the matter."
In another statement made available to journalists yesterday in Abuja, Anenih said: "This morning (yesterday) as early as 7 o'clock, telephone calls from friends and members of my family drew my attention to the list of bank debtors published by the CBN in most of the national dailies and on the CBN website.
"I read most of the newspapers and I was deeply embarrassed that my name should appear as owing Spring Bank N2.065 billion. The CBN in the same publication stated that I am a director in a company called Mettle Energy and Gas Ltd.
"In the last eight hours (as of yesterday), I have carried out investigation and I can firmly say that records in the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) showed that I am neither a shareholder nor a director in Mettle Energy and Gas Ltd.
"Spring Bank records including the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Form CO7 and Board Resolutions with the bank do not have my name in any of the documents."
The PDP chief said he was surprised that the CBN could publish his name among Spring Bank debtors and even owing the bank N2.065 billion. "I have never in my life entered any branch of Spring Bank to transact business.
"I put Spring Bank, CBN and Mettle Energy and Gas Ltd. to the strictest proof that I am a director in Mettle Energy and Gas Ltd. and/or that I owe Spring Bank any amount. I feel pained that people who have worked to the levels of command and leadership are made targets of press war, mischief and ridicule. A case of fraud has been reported to EFCC for investigation and I have also instructed my lawyers to take appropriate action on the matter," he said.
Utomi has also denied being a debtor as published by the CBN on Wednesday.
In a response to the appearance of his name as director of Baywood Continental, Utomi said the transaction in question took place years before he was invited to join the board of the company.
"Without prejudice to the Oil Service Company's issues on Niger Delta conditions that created its challenges on the matter, I wish to state that I have on several occasions accepted to join the board of challenged entrepreneurial ventures to play a mentoring role. I have had the good fortune of a few successes in that role and a few failures and so cherish it as contribution to economic growth.
"As with some of those roles, I am in Baywood Continental an independent director with no shareholding who came to learn of the exposure and challenges generated thereby when I recently joined the board.
"I do not expect that current trends will deter me from supporting young entrepreneurs to seek to create wealth and the jobs consequent upon such effort. I would also like to urge would be entrepreneurs not to become frightened of bank credit as that will further damage our challenged economy," he said.
Also the management of Future View Securities Limited, said yesterday that "we have observed with dismay, the erroneous inclusion of FutureView Securities Limited ('FutureView') as one of the non-performing debtors of BankPHB Plc to the tune of N3,606,120,840.16.
"Our amazement stems from the fact that FutureView at no time requested for or accepted any credit facility from Bank PHB Plc, let alone reneging on its obligation to service or repay the purported loan.
"FutureView hereby challenges Bank PHB Plc to present genuine documents evidencing the application to it for or/and acceptance of any Bank PHB Plc credit facility by FutureView or any of its affiliate companies within seven days of this notice, failing which a legal action will be commenced against the Bank without any further notice."
Culled from ngrguardiannews.com:
No comments:
Post a Comment