FG reschedules meeting with unions in banking, financial sector to August 9

  Dr. Chris Ngige

The Federal Government on Thursday in Abuja rescheduled its stakeholders’ consultative meeting with unions in the banking and financial sector to August 9, 2016.

Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment gave the new date following the low level representations of the unions at the meeting originally scheduled for Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders’ meeting was initiated by the minister to address labour related issues bordering on retrenchment and mass sacking of staff by some banks across the country.

NAN also reports that those present at the Thursday meeting were the officials of Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions.

Others were the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees and representatives of Mortgage Bank, among others.

"The banking sector is a very sensitive sector especially at this time and considering the gravity of issues to be discussed, in which unforeseen circumstance has prevented your heads from being in charge of your delegations.

"We have to postpone this meeting so that your heads of delegations will be here with us when we reconvene for the meeting.

"We will do that because we are going to take very weighty decisions here that will be binding on the banks, unions and the workers as a whole.

"We do not want to have haphazard arrangements. We want to have full compliments of this meeting before we proceed.

"That is why I feel it is important that we postpone this meeting to early next week,’’ Ngige said.

The minister said that the banking sector was an essential part of the Nigerian economy.

He also said that the industries, construction, railways, transport, among others, were physically involved in the banking sector in their own various ways.

"But at the end of the day, everybody is talking about money and the banks control the monetary instruments of the economy.

"So it is not an institution that we should take lightly or discuss its matter in a hurry.

"Therefore, any interaction that we would have in this particular sector will be an interaction that will be fruitful to the banks, the unions and the employees themselves,’’ he said.