Nigeria’s Trade Union Congress (TUC) has accused local banks of not adhering to the Central Bank and Bankers’ Committee directive to suspend staff lay-offs due to the impact of the Coronavirus, according to the Congress’ National President, Quadri Olaleye.
Olaleye was reacting to recent reports of workers being laid off by employers due to the effect of the Coronavirus.
“We discovered that banks are not yielding to CBN’s advice, not even up to 30% implementation.” He also describes the CBN intervention as “an ordinary paperwork”, suggesting that the banks are not bound by the directive.
The effects of the lockdown imposed by the Federal Government has taken a toll on the bottom-line of various businesses, across sectors of the economy. One of the worst hit sectors around the world has been aviation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) highlighting that global revenue losses in 2020 for the passenger business will range between $63 billion (in a scenario where COVID-19 is contained in current markets with over 100 cases as of 2nd March) and $113 billion (in a scenario with a wider spread of COVID-19).
The TUC national President also notes that staff of the Lagos Airport Hotel as well as other establishments have been placed on compulsory leave without pay.
The TUC says it is in touch with employer groups to ensure jobs are not lost as a result of the pandemic.
The concerns and accusations of the industry body comes a few days after the National Bureau of Statistics released its Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria data, showing that 40% live below the poverty line.
Latest employment figures from the statistics office also reveal that 23.13 million Nigerians are out of work.