SDP: Sack of 700 CBN Staff will Worsen Unemployment

Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Shehu Gabam, has faulted the recent mass sack in the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), lamenting that over 700 staff had been axed by the apex bank in an exercise the party described as counter- productive in an already battered economy.
Gabam, who stated this yesterday while addressing journalists in Abuja, urged President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to quickly wade into the matter and stop the ugly trend.

While faulting the sack, he expressed deep concern over the method used in the exercise, which he said, fell short of due process and should be revisited in the interest of justice and fair play.
Gabam who alleged that it was a case of victimisation over the controversial naira redesign last year, said: “You cannot victimise innocent staff who are not responsible for redesigning of the naira, who are not responsible for the scarcity of our currency. They are ordinary staff.
“We are quite concerned about the worrisome developments that are coming out of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Once again, CBN is in the centre of controversy. Innocent people are being sacked without following the due process of sacking them.

“The workers are being stacked just like that without giving them queries. So far, some sources available to us suggest that close to 700 people have been sacked innocently without committing any offence and without going through the processes that regulate how people can be employed or sacked.
“If they commit any offence, they should go through those processes of ensuring that they were given fair hearing and people would not just be called and be given a letter of sack just like that. Nigeria is not a banana republic where anything goes,” he said.

He urged Tinubu, the National Assembly and the CBN governor to revisit the issue as it does not speak well of the nation’s economy.
“I want the National Assembly, the President and the CBN Governor to be mindful of the fact that the unemployment level in Nigeria is extremely very alarming.
CBN cannot always be in the public domain for bad reasons; always on the negative side.
“You cannot victimise innocent staff who are not responsible for redesigning the naira, who are not responsible for the scarcity of our currency.

“They are ordinary staff. They are not at the level of policy decision and they are being victimised,” he added.