The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has stated that the recent attacks on banks by demonstrators over the lack of cash across the nation may cost the banks over N5 billion.
Olusoji Oluwole, the president of ASSBIFI, stated during a news conference yesterday that the sum was based on attacks on roughly five banks and branches in the states of Abeokuta, Edo, Delta, Oyo, and Akwa Ibom.
In addition to attacks against their members, he said that bank branches were set on fire, ATMs were wrecked, and employees’ personal belongings were harmed.
He claimed that while the current attacks brought the banks’ losses to N5 billion, the prior tally of attacks, which occurred in the states of Oyo and Ogun, was estimated to be around N2 billion.
To that aim, he warned that if the situation persisted, the association would suspend activities in solidarity with its sister organization, the National Union of Banks, Insurance, and Other Financial Institution Workers (NUBIFIE).
To defend and safeguard their members, he claimed, this was essential.
He stated: “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.”
During President Muhammadu Buhari’s nationwide broadcast, the ASSBIFI director noted that while the introduction of the N200 notes was a step in the right direction, there were still many problems that needed to be addressed.
He suggested substitutes including promoting digital adoption, monitoring, and penalizing certified merchants to stop accepting other payment methods, forcing them to demand cash, which finally ends up in the hands of currency speculators.
He said that there should be greater knowledge at all levels to prevent panic buying and stockpiling of the new currency and to promote the switch from cash transactions through industry-wide incentives.
“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 stated.
