Senate summons Chris Ngige over his threat to banks to stop retrenchment of staff
- The federal government of Nigeria has waded into the mass retrenchment currently going on in the financial services industry
- This caused Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment to release a press statement to that effect
- Senate has reacted to Ngige's decision on the matter
The Senate on Wednesday, June 8, summoned Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, over his threat to withdraw the license of any bank that retrenches its staff.
This decision was taken after Rafiu Ibrahim, the Senate committee chairman on banking, insurance and other financial institutions, raised a point of order on the matter on the floor of the Senate.
He said that he had seen on the pages of newspapers that Ngige threatened financial institutions to quit sacking their staff.
"The minister of labour made a statement threatening banks to stop retrenchment of staff. Banking being a very sensitive industry, any misguided statement can have a throwback on the industry; it can create a run on the banks.
"As the chairman of the senate committee on banking and finance, we want to invite the minister, the central bank and the banks to know if they are talking about retrenchment and what will happen.
"We want to know the basis of the directive and the basis of the threat," he said.
Senate President Bukola Saraki said since the statement came under section 43, which has to do with personal explanation, he replied "they will come and meet before your committee isn't it? So, it is just for our information.
Earlier, Ngige directed the immediate suspension of the on-going retrenchment in the financial services sector pending the outcome of the conciliatory meetings in the industry.
It was contained in a press statement personally signed by the minister and obtained by Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
