The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has instructed bankers to avoid going to work in any state where banks have been targeted until things are back to normal.
The country’s currency shortage situation has resulted in attacks on commercial banks and their employees.
Comrade Olusoji Oluwole, the association’s president, bemoaned the body’s invasion with reports of threats and attacks on the lives and property of bankers and banks in a letter to unit presidents and secretaries.
He claimed that attacks had persisted unabated despite warnings and requests to the government to implement security measures for the safety of its members inside and outside bank premises.
“The recent being the attack today, Friday 17th February 2023 one bank branch at Epe, Lagos state. We cannot leave the lives and properties of our members exposed to obvious danger. Consequently, all members should immediately stay away from work in any state where bank branches are attacked. This is to continue every day until normalcy is restored,” he said
Oluwole expressed concern that Nigerians opted to attack banks and their workers in response to the currency issue in a telephone conversation with Daily Trust on Saturday.
He issued a warning that the continuous attacks on banks would have negative impacts on the afflicted communities and the nation as a whole.
“We are not the ones closing the banks, it is the people attacking them. They are burning down banks, they are forcing us to shut down. Lives have been lost during attacks, and properties destroyed. We have suffered so many losses, we shouldn’t wait till we lose our members. So, all members are to stay away from work in any community where any bank is attacked,” he said.
Oluwole said the government must be transparent about the shortage of naira, hinting that banks and their employees have become targets for angry Nigerians due to the claim that they were hoarding the new notes.
“It is time for the authorities to come out and tell the people that the problem is not the bank. It was the authorities that said we were hoarding the new notes but it is obvious our members are not responsible for the scarcity. So, the government should come out to address the people that banks are not responsible for the scarcity,” he said.