Mrs. Oyinkansola Olasanoye is the National President Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI). In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf she speaks on the clear and present dangers posed by the planned takeover of the nation’s insurance sub sector by foreigners, no thanks to the inability of the local players to raise the new capital base set by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). Excerpts:
What is your union doing to mediate on behalf of members that will be affected by the new policy regime requiring insurance companies to recapitalise?
Let me answer the question in two folds, firstly we gave employers till October 18th, 2018.The union fought , put things that are particular to paper and demand government and regulators feel concerned for our anxiety and they extended it to one year, so I will not come out now and announce that what they have said is not acceptable, because then in our earlier conversations, bills and everything we had some extension of not less than a year, and if they want them to do anything , they should be given one year or 18 months. So it means they have been given 18 months to meet up whatever requirements.
Secondly, on the other issue of loss of our membership, yes they are affected because recession in Nigeria is still there, even if physically we are claiming that there is no recession in Nigeria, economically, going by the volume of unemployment in the country shows that there is indeed recession. Nobody is investing in stocks now, because Nigerians that got shares couldn’t get any dividend for them, and it means that indirectly we are trying to transfer these different assets to foreigners because at the end of the day, it is the foreign investors that have been able to bring in money for the capitalisation.
What we appealing to government is that indirectly they are making our country to lose our assets and it is like a second colonisation, because everything that Nigeria owns will soon be taken over by foreign investors, and when it comes to employees, we are going to lose our members because all these insurance companies will send them into mergers and acquisitions but no one of them will get investors, so you are appealing to the government that wants due process and have been discussing with this union and giving these members their entitlements and another phase of life to look forward to.
By way of projections, with entreaties you have made to government, do you believe it will change anything?
Yes, I believe so, because when they insisted that capitalisation must be done compulsorily, we appealed to them and with our anxiety, they listened to our petition and gave us extension. Now that our employers have been in the market and realised that they cannot raise that money successfully, we are going back to appeal to government not to let Nigerians lose their assets and investments by transferring to foreign investors. All we are saying is that let this policy have a human face and no government will not agree on that amicable solution.
Is there any stopgap measure you may want to take, should your plan fail as a last resort?
There is no warlord or military leader that willing displays the strength and might of his equipment or artillery so that the enemies can understand his capabilities before going on war, definitely we will continually be appealing to government.
There is a trend across the banking sector where you find that the low profile staff like contract staff, tellers, cashiers, clerk and others do not progress like their counterparts who are full staff, and most of them had been on the job for like 10 years without any benefit. What is your union doing to address the issue?
Yes we are taking care of that as we are actually working out something with the Ministry of Labour and Productivity even the regulations too in respect to that and I believe before the year runs out, something will be achieved even if they don’t belong to the union but working under banking and even Central Bank of Nigeria towards a unified package. We are also meeting with the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) the body of employers so that we can have a new and comprehensive and collective bargaining agreement in place because if they are part of the union and know their rights, they wouldn’t be experiencing all manner of such. Rather than making noise, we are working towards such regulation and proper legal framework within this collective framework that gives us right on the worker to be able to change the template.
The issue of the new national minimum wage issue is still pending, is your union still involved in the negotiation process?
Yes, I know that the top leadership of the both Nigeria Labour Congress/Trade Union Congress (NLC/TUC) was in a meeting with e government last week. We are trying to tarry awhile because of the present political situation of the country and we are not willing to do anything that will affect the country, so we are still talking and bargaining with the government that everybody should be part of the minimum wage. So if nothing concrete comes out of our negotiations the leadership would consider the next line of action.
Leave a Reply