The President of the National Union of Banks, Insurance, and Financial Institution Employees, Anthony Abakpa, has called for the intervention of the National Assembly in improving the welfare of contract staff in the financial sector.
Abakpa made this call in an exclusive chat with Sunday PUNCH.
The International Labour Office described contract labour as covering all situations in which work is performed by a person who is not the worker’s employer under labour law but in conditions of subordination or dependency that are close to an employment relationship under that law.
Abakpa said, “The high level of discrimination between permanent staff and outsourced staff should be revisited or looked into by the National Assembly. If possible they should abolish the issue of contracts staffing/outsourcing in banks, insurance, and other financial institutions in Nigeria.
“Sustainable Development Goal 8 aims to promote inclusive sustainable and productive employment and decent work for all. The country is not there yet. And no hope with practices of contract employment and outsourcing in the country. It can be better if the government beams their searchlight on this exploitation for better working conditions for Nigerian workers.”
He added that “the way outsourcing is being practiced in neighbouring countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Niger is not the same way Nigerians are practicing it. We have asked several times, ‘How do you place people on outsourced functions with no benefits?’
“Each time we have such an incident, we use the platform of the Nigerian Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees to confront this issue headlong. These are Nigerian workers and they are citizens of this country, so they have a right to welfare and collective bargaining.
“It’s really unfortunate and sad when you see the manner some banks and insurance companies are discriminating in the payment of wages, salaries/welfare for outsourced staff in the industry. The gap between the full staff and the outsourced staff is too high even though they all contribute to the bottom line of the organisation. The exploitation is too bad that some banks don’t even encourage career progression or growth.”
The NUBIFIE boss called on Nigerian leaders to ensure that Nigerians get decent work in their country.
“The outsourcing /contract employment is satanic, especially to citizens,” he asserted.
On his part, the National President of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, Olusoji Oluwole, said staff welfare is not uniform in organisations and varies in monetary and other terms.
He noted that in some instances, reviews are negotiated based on different parameters.
“On outsourced staff, there has been agitation over the years on the representation of affected staff as they are employed through third-party companies. The unions are currently working based on the guidelines issued by the former minister of labour. A number of organisations currently have programmes to absorb them into permanent employment. We continue to work on other organisations’ adoption of the policy,” he said.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, as of the end of September 2020, 23 banks in Nigeria employed a total of 95,888 workers out of which 40,382 of them were on a contract basis. Institutions covered in the employment statistics include commercial banks, merchant banks, and non-interest banks.
Outsourcing in Nigerian banks can be traced to cost-cutting strategies. By employing workers through third-party agencies, banks do not have to pay full compensation, pensions, and other benefits.
