ASSBIFI faults FG claims on economy

Workers in the finance sector, under the auspices of Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), have faulted the claims by the Federal Government of serious improvement in the sector; saying that the claims are only theoretical.

According to the workers, so far all the claims by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration were statistics and not factual or physical as Nigerians, workers and most especially the financial institutions are yet to recover from the recession.

The National President of ASSBIFI, Comrade  Oyinkan Olasanoye, while speaking during a  sensitisation walk organised as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Union in Lagos, stated that the event was specifically to draw the attention of the government, employers and other stakeholders to the plight of the workers in the sector and Nigeria at large.

He pointed out that despite persistent information from the Federal Government to assure Nigerians on the buoyancy of the economy, it is not yet buoyant as being claimed.

Comrade Olasanoye called on the Buhari administration to do all within its power to make recession a thing of the past in the country.

She said: “So far, the claim that we are out of recession as government is claiming is mere statistics, because in our education sector, in our health sector, and in physical provisions at home, we all know we are still battling with recession.

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“The financial institutions are the drivers of the  economy as a result of that, whatever happens to the economy affects us directly. Everybody knows that government is the highest spender, but for some years now, this has reduced, coupled with the TSA. As if that is not enough the three tiers new policy in the insurance sector simply demands that they must increase in capitalisation. But unfortunately, we are in the election year and many investors are not investing.”

“Hence until government starts spending, we we will still continue to face the economy crisis. Even if we want to agree with the government that there is no recession, the effects of the recession is still in the market place.”

The ASSBIFI president noted that in the past 40 years, the union has fought for the rights of the workers,  and ensure that no member is laid off without due compensation.

“We want Nigerians to know that casualisation and contract staff prevalent in our sector will no longer be tolerated. A worker either casual or full staff is entitled to freely exercise his or her rights to belong to the union and this we are out to ensure”, she said.