By Chinyere Aruogu
Zenith Bank , one of Nigeria’s top rate banks is witnessing a sack gale that has affected most of its senior, middle level and junior personnel.
The retrenchment has been going on secretly but most of the affected staff could no longer keep quiet as neighbours and friends are beginning to ask why they no longer go to work.
The federal government recently appealed to banks to stop laying off their personnel when it was discovered that many of them could no longer sustain huge wage bill in the wake of government insistent on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) that removed so much money from the vaults of ghetto commercial banks.
Before now banks like First bank, Diamond Bank , FCMB, Edo bank, Fidelity Bank among others had fired their personnel in a right sizing move to keep their head above the water in an economy hit by recession.
Sources said Zenith Bank sacked it’s personnel found not to be productive enough this period just as it gave others who willing wanted to leave in the face of work challenges the opportunity to do so.
A senior manager of the bank told Armadanews that most of the big names go under on the list willingly opted to go and we’re compensated adequately. He said there were also those who could not longer cope with the current economic climate and we’re therefore rationalised out.
However, we have it on good authority that the sack gale was part of Zenith bank’s repositioning effort to lay off staff that cost the bank so much to maintain in terms of payment of wages and allowances so as to thin down its mounting staff remuneration.
There are plans by the bank , we have learnt , to extend the sack to both the middle and junior personnel before the end of this year.
Sources said the bank may engage more casual personnel so as to further cut costs.