Workers of the three deposit money banks under the management of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, Enterprise, Mainstreet and Keystone banks, have raised an alarm of the planned transfer of the banks to new operators, expressing fear that they might lose their jobs.
They have therefore approached a Federal High Court in Lagos, asking that the sales or transfer of the banks be invalidated.
In a suit marked FHC/L/CS/1552/14 filed through their lawyer, Fred Agbaje, the bank workers said the move by AMCON to sell the banks without carrying them along was done in breach of the law.
According to them, AMCON ought to have involved them in the bidding process, since by the terms and virtue of their employment they were shareholders and were entitled to a maximum of 10 per cent of the banks’ total assets.
Two workers from each of the three banks sued for themselves and on behalf of their colleagues.
They are Ogunremi Francis and Aneke Emmanuel for Mainstreet Bank staff; Abimbola Alabi and Aderonke Aworemi for Keystone Bank staff; and Victor Nwankwo and Isokpan Efe-Martins for Enterprise Bank staff.
The seventh plaintiff is the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions.
Joined as the first to sixth defendants are AMCON, the three banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Security Exchange Commission.
A 35-paragraph affidavit filed in support of their originating summons was deposed to by Ogunremi of Mainstreet Bank.
Ogunremi explained that the suit was necessary, having realised that the recent acquisition and sales of the three banks were “in defiance to the CBN guidelines and other relevant laws governing commercialization and privatization matters and public procurement in Nigeria.”
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