ASSBIFI, NUBIFIE decry attacks on banks, vow to down tools

•Say release of N200 notes not the solution

With the recent attacks on banks by protesters over the scarcity of cash across the country, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has said the financial implication may cost the banks over N5 billion.

President of ASSBIFI, Olusoji Oluwole, while addressing a press conference yesterday, said the amount was based on the attacks on about five banks and branches across Abeokuta, Edo, Delta, Oyo and Akwa Ibom states.

He said bank branches were burnt, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) destroyed and workers’ personal effects were damaged, amid attacks on their members.

He said the last count of attacks, which happened previously in Oyo and Ogun states, were put at about N2 billion, while the recent attacks increased the banks’ losses to N5 billion.

To this end, he said if this continues, the association, in solidarity with the sister union, National Union of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE), would shut down operations.

He said this was necessary to defend and protect their members.

He said: “ASSBIFI and NUBIFIE members are highly responsible, ethical and patriotic people, mindful of the negative impact of industrial action in an already charged environment, but if we are pushed, we will do what is necessary to defend and protect ourselves.

“It is disheartening and painful that workers have put in a lot of effort to ensure the policy succeeds despite challenges being faced. They are being traumatised physically and mentally based on the attacks and being unable to function in their places of work is a big challenge.

“We call on the public to desist from threatening or attacking our members and destroying our properties, as they will be only proverbially cutting their noses to spite their faces. We can only give what we have been provided with and nothing more.

“However, we value the lives of our members and colleagues and will not put them at any further risk. We have put them on alert and shall instruct them without further warning to immediately stay away from their branches if these attacks on our members and facilities continue until such a time that they can be guaranteed of their personal safety and the security of their workplaces by the relevant authorities.”

On President Muhammadu Buhari’s national broadcast, the ASSBIFI boss said the release of the N200 notes was not a major solution to the challenges on ground but the need to look at alternatives and build on them.

He said alternatives such as encouraging digital penetration, monitoring and sanctioning outlets that have been verified to shut down the use of alternative means of payments, causing them to demand cash, which eventually finds their way into the hands of currency traders.

He advised that there should be an increased awareness at all levels to discourage panic withdrawal and hoarding of the new currency, while providing industry-wide incentives to encourage the transition from cash transactions.

“With all these, if alternatives are not put in place, we might end up where we started from. Government should tell us how much of the new value that has been released so far,” he said.
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