Amidst the ongoing nationwide protests and attacks on banks as a result of naira scarcity, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has supposedly directed that all bank workers should stay away from work. The Association made this known in a letter, where it stated that if the attacks on banks and their staff were not immediately addressed by the government and relevant security agencies, bank staff may be directed to stay at home.
In the letter addressed to all Unit President and Secretaries, which reads “The National Secretariat has been inundated with reports of threats and attacks on lives and properties of members and bank branches and subsequently has been on the field to monitor and confirm the reports.
“We issued a warning and appeals to government to provide security measures for the safety of lives and properties of our members within and around the bank premises, but regrettably the attacks have continued without any form of security for the safety of our Members, and the recent being the attack today, Friday, 17 February 2023 on one bank branch at Epe, Lagos State.
“We cannot leave the lives and properties of our members exposed to obvious danger.
“Consequently, all members should today immediately stay away from work in any state where bank branches are attacked. This is to continue every day until normalcy is restored. Please note, you will be availed further directives as events develop.”
President of ASSBIFI, Olusoji Oluwole on Thursday stated that about 7 bank branches were attacked and over N5 billion in damages were recorded in Edo, Delta, and Oyo, amongst other states.
He said the affected bank branches were burned, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were destroyed while workers were attacked as well as their properties were damaged.
Oluwole said, “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 their personal safety and the security of their workplaces by the relevant authorities
“We call on the public to desist from threatening or attacking our members, or 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.”