By Eberechi Obinagwam

The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), has decried the practice of contract employment in the financial and other sectors of the Nigerian economy.

National President of ASSBIFI, Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye, made the remark while interacting with Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN) to mark the 40^th anniversary of the organisation with the theme: Innovative, Sustainable and Dignified World of Work.

She said the union has achieved the feat of ensuring that no bank has laid off any of its members without following the due process of doing so.

She said the practice of having more contract staff in banks is  not just a union matter, but a battle for all.

“Just like in the oil and gas sector where they have collective bargaining for three years, we want same. We have appealed to the National Assembly on the issue because we don’t want to involve ourselves in fraud. Contract staff should be treated like human beings and not slaves,”she said.

Olasanoye said the 40^th anniversary of ASSBIFI is not the big deal but what the group has been able to achieve in this turbulent and capitalist ridden economy.

She said when they started off in 1978, they werelooked down upon as riff rafts, but today the story has changed.

“ASSBIFI is now recognised as people that have future, visible in the nation and diaspora,” she said.

She said the capitalists have been using the media and all other means at their disposal to enslave the working people spiritually.

“Spiritually in the sense that we accept their slavery as God’s given which is not supposed to be so.” 

She however called on Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN), to distinguish themselves from journalists who write for brown envelope sake.

In his remark, LAWAN chairman, Sylvester Enghase  said it was wrong for the U.S. president, Donald Trump, to call Nigeria’s President lifeless.

 He said his organisation would seek clarification on the statement from the presidency and then proceed with a legal suit against the U.S. president.