When I was younger, and even as I grew older, bankers in Nigeria were among the most prestigious professionals. They commanded immense respect in our communities, whether they were clerks or senior officers.
I vividly recall a time when cashiers (now tellers) and accountants (now heads of operations) were influential figures in society. Back then, the minimum qualification to become a teller or cash officer was an ordinary level certificate. If anyone well-versed in this subject could provide a deeper historical perspective, it would be greatly appreciated.
Consider the inspiring stories of Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank and Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank, both of whom started as clerks and climbed to the pinnacle of the banking profession. Today, such success stories are unthinkable. Those days are gone—buried under a system that stifles career growth for the average Nigerian banker.
Today, entry-level employees (ETs) with first-class, 2:1, or even 2:2 degrees spend an average of five years stuck in the same grade. Career progression to senior levels like GM has become nearly impossible, with perhaps only 0.1% making it that far in their lifetimes. The structured progression system—ET, ABO, BO, SBO, AM, DM, MGR, SM, AGM, DGM, GM—was designed to provide growth opportunities for dedicated employees. Yet today, that ladder has been broken, dismantled, and discarded.
Instead, what we see is a reliance on outsourcing, which has devolved into a tool of exploitation. It is illegal to keep employees as outsourced staff for more than two years, yet Nigerian banks retain outsourced workers for 10, 15, or even 18 years. I’ve seen it firsthand. This inhumane practice persists in our country while these same banks operate abroad under stricter labor laws.
For instance, in Sierra Leone, it’s unheard of for a bank teller to be a contract worker. Similarly, in Ghana and Liberia, many roles that are outsourced in Nigeria are handled by permanent staff. Nigerian executives know better than to replicate these exploitative practices in other countries. Why, then, should it be acceptable here?
This must change. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), CIBN, NDIC, the National Assembly, and other supervisory bodies must be alive to their responsibilities.
At Bankersspeakup, we will not stand idly by. We are committed to challenging unjust retrenchments, such as the recent mass layoffs at UBA. Imagine serving a bank for 18 years only to be dismissed with a paltry N3.5 million. This level of disregard for human dignity is unacceptable.
If Nigerian banks insist on laying off workers unjustly, we demand that they freeze new hiring until fairness is restored. This is non-negotiable. We will exhaust every legal avenue to seek justice for our colleagues and advocate for a banking industry that respects its workers.
May God help us in this fight for dignity and fairness.
Adesola Orisamoluwa
Convener, Bankersspeakup writes from Lagos and can be reached on his professional LinkedIn account via
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adeoris
