Intercontinental Bank sacks 1500 workers

Intercontinental Bank sacks
another 1,500 workers
National News Dec 8, 2009 *As NLC
kicks against retrenchment
By Omoh Gabriel & Funmi
Komolafe
LAGOS—The Management of the
Intercontinental Bank Monday
served sack letters to no fewer
than 1,500 of its workers. However,
the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC,
protested the retrenchment, but did
not disclose what its next line of
action would be.
NLC ’s General Secretary, Mr. John
Odah, said in a statement, “our
stand is that workers are not
responsible for the crisis. The
Central Bank of Nigeria and the
affected banks know those who
abused the trust of depositors to
enrich themselves, ” Odah said.”
“We will not agree to be made
scape goats. As long as those
people are not made to cough out
the money they took, we ’ll not
accept a situation where workers
will be sacked. ”
The sack of the workers is a
continuation of the house-cleaning
the bank started last Thursday.
While Thursday ’s exercise was
mainly targeted at the top
management, this time senior
managers, managers, deputy and
assistant managers up to
management training in the bank
were affected.
Vanguard gathered that last Friday,
the bank ’s management, at a
meeting with all the regional and
branch managers in its head office
complied the list of those to be sack
or to be retain in the bank.
Managers were said to have left
the bank with the instruction to
submit the list of those they do not
want to work with and the entire
list was compiled weekend.
It would be recalled that the
management of Intercontinental
Bank last Thursday sacked about
50 senior management staff of the
bank. But in an official statement
the bank said only 26 senior
management of the bank
voluntarily resigned their
appointments.
Insiders told Vanguard that those
affected were the executive
management from the rank of
Assistant General Managers and
above. Vanguard learnt that in the
exercise all the General Managers,
Deputy General Managers except
two, and 17 Assistant General
Managers were affected by the
forced resignation.
The banks statement said “As part
of the on-going restructuring
exercise in Intercontinental Bank
Plc, the Management of the Bank
yesterday accepted the voluntary
exit of 26 Senior Management
officers of the Bank.
“The collective exit which is viewed
as a sacrifice, is the contribution of
these Senior Management officers
to the recently-launched ‘Project
Transformation’ which is being
implemented in three phases.
“ This is expected to pave the way
for the new Management to
reposition the Bank on a new
foundation. The Bank is committed
to pursuing bold and necessary
changes that will fully restore value
and confidence to all our
stakeholders.
“ It would be recalled that the Bank
recently launched “Project
Transformation” which is a three-
pronged strategic plan to stabilise,
re-build and consolidate the bank
for greater efficiency and
profitability. ”
Vanguard investigation, however,
revealed that the affected staff
were forced to resign as they were
told that there services were no
longer required.
Those being forced out of the bank,
according to a senior officials, were
those regarded as being the moles
in the bank that appear to be loyal
to the erstwhile Managing Director,
Erastus Akingbola.
Yesterday the caretaker Managing
Director, Mr. Lai Alabi told newsmen
in Lagos while reacting to the
waivers the bank granted to
debtors that “we are contesting
with serious issue of moles in the
bank, what this people intend to
achieve was to malign the bank,
frustrate the progress we have
made for the purpose of serving
certain interests.
“This management has remained
focussed in operating in an open
manner with a high degree of
integrity and transparency. We are
succeeding in introducing a culture
of good corporate governance
which was entirely lacking in the
past.
“ A few disgruntled elements who
are not happy with this new
direction are working hard
underground to frustrate it. We
shall not allow them. ”
It was gathered that the sack of
the senior management staff was
part of the effort of the new
management of the bank to flush
out senior officers who are believed
to be loyal to the former
management or had compromised
their position during the era.
Intercontinental Bank is one of the
five banks whose chief executives
was sacked by the CBN in the first
phase of the banks ’ audit exercise.
The banks’ Chief executive was
sacked alongside the executive
directors for poor corporate
governance which led to huge non-
performing loans that eroded the
shareholders ’ funds of the banks.