Intercontinental Bank Sacks 1,500 Workers
By Muyiwa Adeyemi

BARELY a week to the Christmas, Intercontinental Bank Plc yesterday gave unusual gifts to 1,500 members of its staff: "Letter of disengagement from the bank.

The sack letters were served to the affected staff around 3 p.m. yesterday, changing the atmosphere in the financial institution's banking hall throughout the country to that of shock and disbelief. Those affected were from the position of manager to executive banker level.

The bank is said to have about 5,000 work force nationwide.

The Guardian's investigation revealed that in its over 300 branches nationwide, five workers from each branch had their appointment terminated.

They were to be paid three months basic salary irrespective of number of years they have served the bank.

The sack, which came just two days after their salaries were paid has been hanging in the air for about three months when the new management of the bank had alleged leakage of sensitive information about a transaction by the new Managing Director of the bank Mr. Lai Mahmud Alabi alleged to have granted a waiver of N31billion to some influential Nigerians, the amount higher than the capital base of the bank by its 2005 consolidation.

The bank had also about two weeks ago laid off senior officers from the positions of General Manager (GM), Assistant General Manager (AGM) and Deputy General Manager (DGM) up to senior managers.

Investigation further revealed that the new management decided not to paste names of affected staff on the bank board to conceal the total number of people that were laid off but rather decided to dispatch names to each branch as it affected them.

Also, their salaries had about three months ago been cut down by 30 per cent.

A competent source last night told The Guardian that the new management has requested from each branch manager to submit the name of at least five members of staff in their respective departments for the sack. Three managers were said to have declined to sacrifice any of their junior ones but two of them did not survive the onslaught.

It was also learnt that some managers who complied were not spared in the exercise.

One of the aggrieved staff who spoke to The Guardian on condition of anonymity confirmed that he received his letter at about 3 p.m.

He said that they were just disengaged from the bank even as they did not give them any particular reason. Another affected worker who was contacted on phone last night was still in a state of shock as he betrayed his emotions while confirming to The Guardian that he was affected by the exercise. The employee who worked at the headquarters of the bank alleged that the exercise was targeted at some staff suspected to have any link with the former MD of the bank Erastus Akingbola.

The sacking of 1,500 employees of the Intercontinental Bank came just two days ago when the United Bank for Africa (UBA) also sacked about 2,000 of its workforce.

Before now, there has been speculation that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks in the country to reduce their work force or cut down on staff salaries.


Tools
Send to a friend
Printer-friendly version

Source: The Guardian.

The Intercontinental bank exercise was so crazy, I was personally affected as i was given my disengagement letter just yesterday. The whole thing was far from fair especially for the branches here in the north. Imagine the four of us that were disengaged in my branch here in kano are all yoruba people, even two of us had the best performance in marketing, Everybody wake up ,this is northern agenda, proven. The same thing goes for most branches in the north, i am in d system that is why i have all these facts with me , the most annoying part of the whole show is that the content of the letter reads thus' We regret to inform you that your services to the bank will no longer be required with immediate effect, no reason was given ,too bad, anyhow sha , Baba god still dey oooooooooooo I no dey Shake.

seun0622:

The Intercontinental bank exercise was so crazy, I was personally affected as i was given my disengagement letter just yesterday. The whole thing was far from fair especially for the branches here in the north. Imagine the four of us that were disengaged in my branch here in kano are all yoruba people, even two of us had the best performance in marketing, Everybody wake up ,this is northern agenda, proven. The same thing goes for most branches in the north, i am in d system that is why i have all these facts with me , the most annoying part of the whole show is that the content of the letter reads thus' We regret to inform you that your services to the bank will no longer be required with immediate effect, no reason was given ,too bad, anyhow sha , Baba god still dey oooooooooooo I no dey Shake.

So sad to know that were affected but keep your head up and stand tall.
Am sure if you put your marketing skills & effort with IBPLC into ur personal bizness, the sky will be ur startin point.

I sympathize with u guy, but too vex, Its crazy I agree to sack pipu b4 Xmas, but going as far as saying its some conspiracy makes no sense at all,

1 Notherners dont own IBPLC
2 your case in all likely hood is an isolated one, think of the Hausa man working in Abeokuta branch and was also sacked, should he say its a South conspiracy?

I know u r angry but if u realy excelled as u say u did I expect u to show some focus, clearmindedness, and judgement outside ur emplyment just as u did while u were employed, GOODLUCK,

PS. I am also comming back to Nigeria to join this mess of a country ,,,,but By God grace together we go make am better,

9 friends from my own branch were sacrificed.of which one has a wedding scheduled for next month.these times are really hard times.though i was not affected,i cried all night.when i visited my friend this morning as early as 6.30am he was stronger.life goes on.for all bankeers out there, better start thinking of ur plan B.these times are really hard times.

2000 from UBA

U guys fit join hand sign petition or at least join small money and sue these banks for the following

1 if they ask u to resign and u dont want yet they make it look like u voluntarily resigned

2 if they talking of cost cutting make them first cut managemnt bonuses and the allowances to board members, bcoz these guys neva consulted the ordinary staffs when they ran these banks to the ground through irresponsible risk taking and lack of foresight in granting unsecured loans.

3 or u can sue them for sacking u without notice a week to chrismas,

If u guys can start these then other banks thinking of selfish downsizing will have to think twice b4 they start dishing out cheap bye bye letters, Coz trust me other banks are thinking of going down this route too,

I have known banks to be unstable, but what's happening now is this last decade is unbelievable

Na wa o! The banking sector which was the biggest private employer of labour has become the biggest sacker of workers.

NV ME:

So sad to know that were affected but keep your head up and stand tall.
Am sure if you put your marketing skills & effort with IBPLC into your personal bizness, the sky will be your startin point.

spot on!
Just left the sector before this crase began for the very reason stated and yup!its been worth it.
That waiting for some crazy pay check thats already been cut into bits just dont cut it.

Keep your heads up all those affected. Behind every dark cloud a silver lining.
Trust me youll survive just get your heads out of the bloody sand box!

pls guys get a skilled job cos all these office Jobs will fail one day

Banking sector isn't reliable work combined wif al d stress involved.i pity those dt were invovled because it is goin to b survival of d fittest now(where there is job scarcity).al d same God is ur strength.

Banking sector isn't reliable work combined wif al d stress involved.i pity those dt were invovled because it is goin to b survival of d fittest now(where there is job scarcity).al d same God is ur strength.

na wa oh oh oh oh

i once worked with an IT firm as an Engineer, though i was satisfied with the pay, but the working conditions
and policies was really not confortable for me, i had to resign, at first people thought i was crazy, i became an entrepreneur, which has always been my dream, i am so happy with myself my biz is realy growing and i have time formyself manag my risk and make my own plans,
i'll advice you guys with this problem to try starting something, though it would not be easy at first but with the right shot u'll make it, other than toiling under these big industries and get kicked or not appeciated

i will advice all the sacked workers from UBA,INTER,WEMA,ZENITH ETC to form a union and march to the national assembly and the CBN to convene this injustice.How can u make innocent pple to suffer 4 d sins of others.How do one xplain a situation where a debtor is being granted billions of money in waiver but an innocent staff is made a scapegoat.

REALLY IF IT IS POSSIBLE I WILL WITHDRAW ALL MY MONEY FROM THAT BANK, AND PUT IT HERE IN CHINA
SEE HOW INNOCENT ,HARD WORKING PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING FROM BLUNDERS CAUSED BY THERE CEO OR MD, IS THIS A XMAS GIFT, WHERE IS THE PRESIDENT? OH SORRY HE IS STILL IN HIS SICK BED CONTESTING FOR 2ND TENURE, ALL I KNOW GOD WILL PUNISH U ALL, FROM THE CHURCH U DONATED THE MONEY, AND PRIVATE PLACES U PUT IT
TO MY FELLOW PEOPLE THAT ARE AFFECTED, PLEASE TAKE UP A TRADE, OR SERVICE PROVIDER. IS NOT OVER
IF IGBO PEOPLE COULD SURVIVE WITH 20 POUNDS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR , THERE IS HOPE

i feel so sad when i had the news this morning,it's a very painful news to me cus i don't know how the next Graduate going to get a job in this country due to what's going on right now.

This is disheartening, may God bless Nigeria.

seun0622:

The Intercontinental bank exercise was so crazy, I was personally affected as i was given my disengagement letter just yesterday. The whole thing was far from fair especially for the branches here in the north. Imagine the four of us that were disengaged in my branch here in kano are all yoruba people, even two of us had the best performance in marketing, Everybody wake up ,this is northern agenda, proven. The same thing goes for most branches in the north, i am in d system that is why i have all these facts with me , the most annoying part of the whole show is that the content of the letter reads thus' We regret to inform you that your services to the bank will no longer be required with immediate effect, no reason was given ,too bad, anyhow sha , Baba god still dey oooooooooooo I no dey Shake.

be strong bro, just put yourself together, its time to start making alternate plans, too bad this is realy a bad christmas package

My people pls I need to know whether they attach severance benefits cheques to these letters or are they sending these people away empty handed?

9 friends from my own branch were sacrificed.of which one has a wedding scheduled for next month.these times are really hard times.though i was not affected,i cried all night.when i visited my friend this morning as early as 6.30am he was stronger.life goes on.for all bankeers out there, better start thinking of your plan B.these times are really hard times.


am really sorry for ur friend, the lord is his strenght.

this is really a bitter pill to swallow, cos i know peeps working in the bank actually have very little savings.and he never saw this comming.

***SIGHS AND SHAKES HEAD SORROWFULLY******

something better will surface, just encourage him to pick up the pieces and look at the cup as half full and not the other way.

this mite be a blessing in disguise.

I just hope they did not sack ATM engineers or staff in that Unit. otherwise the crime rate on ATM incidents will just blow-up in our faces big tyme

lagerwhenindoubt:

I[b] just hope they did not sack ATM engineers or staff in that Unit. otherwise the crime rate on ATM incidents will just blow-up in our faces big tyme[/b]

Do u think d ppl in power weda in aso rock or cbn are thinking like u.
Crime rate can increase for all they cares.

Its quite unfortunate that this is happening to our young amiable people. The old fools who enjoyed a lot of governemnt facilities while they are young are putting policies and attitude that is affecting us negatively. God where is thy face . At the moment oceanic is sharing its on own sack letters , there is high tension in the air.
If i may ask , is this the what Sanusi and friends which are forced as CEOs of the ailling bank has for us.
What agenda is this , to turn people to jobless pauper.
this is sad

Now that's what I call " A Hell of of Christmas Present".

But people, life brings this kind of situation sometimes. Don't sweat it though. It's an economic depression.

What matters is to stay calm and sharp. This is an opportunity to check your priorities and write down what you want to do next.

Plus get better skills.

Whatever you do stay happy, atleast you got more time for your family for awhile. Cut down on the spending too.

no be UBA dey try recruit for 2010 abi i no see well b4 i apply. about a Month ago THey put out a recruitment notice. WONDERS SHALL NEVER END

i was advice by an uncle from to resign and i did so 2 month ago and now am now working in a public sector office thou the cash is not like befor but i still thank God .seven of my guy are nw victim of lai Alabi crazy act.

xmas gift from govt through our banks to common man , god go punish una

learnt oceanic format today is, if u cant logon(if your account has been disabled), it means you have been laid off. there is so much tension in their banking hall since they dont know when it will end

this goes to show just how raz and unprofessional the people managing these banks are

and dishonest too - termination without standard benefits. at least we all saw zains exit process earlier this year

talked with a manager from ib this weekend. it was BAD. they have even stopped paying upfront, apparently. as usual without any prior warning

most people have seen it coming, - apparently zenith, which bankers see as the epitome of job security, laid off 6000 - according to what i heard.



na wa o


the meltdown has come home