November 18, 2015/The Will

Airtel Nigeria is embarking on a strategic restructuring that will reposition the business and reinforce its competitiveness in the marketplace.

This was disclosed Tuesday in a release signed by Emeka Oparah, director, corporate communications and CSR, Airtel Nigeria.

According to him, the exercise, which is focused on aligning the company’s structure with its operating model, also entails a right sizing that will impact a section of its current workforce.

“We wish to assure that, in accordance with best practice, a robust plan has been put in place to cushion the effect of the exercise on the impacted employees and ensure that the process is seamless.

“One of the key objectives is to create a high-performing organisation, which satisfies the needs of all of our stakeholders, especially our customers, as we step into the next growth phase of our operations,” he stated in the release.

Reps Kick Against Casualisation Of Workers, Corporate Prostitution In Banking Sector

The House of Representatives on Tuesday said it was displeased over the casualisation of workers and corporate prostitution in the banking sector.

The lawmakers, including Segun Adekola, Femi Gbajabiamila, Majority Leader, and Rita Orji, expressed the concerns during a debate on the motion titled: ‘Urgent need to curb unwholesome practices of banks in Nigeria,’ sponsored by Adekola.

The lawmakers specifically condemned the inhuman treatment meted against female bankers and others who were summarily dismissed for not meeting targets.

In his lead debate, Adekola noted that staffers who do not meet the largely unrealistic targets were summarily dismissed.

Adekola said: “A critical assessment of the targets being given to these employees to meet show them to be unrealistic, unreasonable, ordinarily unattainable and irrational.

“But these banks resort to unethical means to ensure that these targets are met by either explicitly or impliedly encouraging their staff, especially the female ones to engage in illicit behaviour.”

Gbajabiamila recalled that he made an attempt to stop the practice with the Corporate Prostitution Bill sponsored during the sixth Assembly.

He explained that the bill got to the stage of a public hearing but some bankers defended what he described as “an unsavoury practice.”

Gbajabiamila, who expressed disappointment that high ranking female bank executives equally raised objections to the bill, noted that some of the local banks with international affiliation would not attempt to send their staff out to solicit for funds in their home countries.

The House leader who cited Section 34 of the Constitution, which protects Nigerians from inhuman and down grading treatment, noted that the motion was timely, as it would draw attention to the undignified treatment bankers were being put through.

“Marriages have been wrecked and homes destroyed because of this practice and I am sure that none of us here will allow our daughters be involved in this,” he said.

Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, while calling for a voice vote on the motion, stressed the need to “appeal to the conscience” of the management of banks to desist from sending out young men and women to solicit for deposits.

The House mandated the House Committee on Banking and Currency chaired by Jones Onyereri to investigate the practices and report to its findings within a month.

Also at plenary, the lawmakers unanimously resolved to donate N5 million to
the Nigerian Legion.

The donation was sequel to the adoption of the motion sponsored by Gbajabiamila, who raised the motion under matters of national public importance, calling on the House to support President Muhammadu Buhari who on Monday donated N10 million to the legion.

According to him, the donation for the upkeep of families of dead soldiers was a good way of celebrating their memory.

He said the House, like the executive, fully recognised the sacrifice made by soldiers who fought on behalf of the country since the First World War.