Why Labour is skeptical over sale of Polaris bank

…..Vows to defend rights, interests of members,others

By UFOMBA UZUEGBU

Organized Labour under the aegis of National Union of Banks,  Insurance and Financial Institutions’Employees(NUBIFIE) has cited lack of integrity as the reason for rejecting the process leading to the sale/acquisition of Polaris Bank for rejecting its recent announced sale

Labour regretted that the sale was carried out without the knowledge of stakeholders including organized labour.

NUBIFIE said it is worried that among others,a bank that the government spent over a trillion Naira to capitalize, would be sold for N 50 billion secretly,saying an  emergency National Executive Council,NEC,meeting would soon be convened

to deliberate on this specific issue and the decision on the next line of action would definitely be taken.

In a statement by its General Secretary,Sheik Mohammed,NUBIFIE,among others, said:”As a union, we recognize that a bridge bank cannot continue to be held in trust perpetually and it is within the right of the relevant authority to take necessary measures to get suitable investors among those who have indicated genuine interest in acquiring it.

“The union has been inundated with various shades of complaints from stakeholders on the integrity of the process leading to the sale/acquisitipn of Polaris Bank Nigeria Limited, and the public are expecting answers from us ,as a union whose primary duty is safeguarding and defending the interests of the workers and the regular day-to day depositors.

“It is already public knowledge that the government through its regulatory institutions,has sunk(or invested ?) over a trillion naira of public funds on Polaris Bank inits turn around efforts,and given the huge amount of public funds involved,the process of the transactions must not only be seen to be transparent and open but the public has the right to know details of such transactions.

“Any claims of adherence to due process which excludes workers and their representatives, as well as the general public,fades away in the face of reason and cannot be seen to be transparent.The union and its members are concerned over the shrouding of entire transactions in secrecy,hiding under the guise of complying with Section 34 (5) of the AMCON Act.This is a sure recipe

for disaster and ultimately be a cross on the neck of workers.

“Casting the process of sale/acquisition of Polaris Bank in secrecy,created credibility challenge,limiting fair competition and made much worse by the fact that appropriate agency (AMCON) established to carry out the transaction,allegedly was a mere rubber stamp in the entire process”