INFORMATION NIGERIA » soludo

Banks to Sack 21,000 Workers

Information Nigeria — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:57:53 +0000

There is a fresh tsunami sweeping through the banking industry. It is called retrenchment of workers. Already, over 20,000 jobs are being threatened with Oceanic Bank Plc sacking 1,500 workers yesterday, in an exercise the bank said was ongoing.

This is as labour has threatened to shut down the banks over the disengagements. An executive director of the bank, who pleaded for anonymity, confirmed the retrenchment exercise, saying it cuts across every branch and all cadres of staff.

President of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Sunny Nwosu blamed the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mallam Lamido Sanusi for the high rate of job losses, insisting that the CBN boss was not a good manager of men and material.

He argued that good managers always weigh the consequences of their actions with a view to providing cushioning effects.

This is as Minister of Labour and Productivity, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode has cautioned against massive retrenchment in banks.

Meanwhile, the gloom that engulfed the staff of Oceanic Bank came on the heels of the last’s week’s retrenchment of 1,500 of workers in Intercontinental Bank Plc, which has a work force of 5000.

Prior to this, the bank had sacked 26 of its top managers including some general managers as part of its three prong transformation project.

Also the United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) had earlier conducted a similar retrenchment exercise even as indications are rife that Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and Finbank Plc will soon ask some workers to leave.

Spring Bank had earlier sacked 200 of its staff with Wema Bank retrenching 500 workers including 25 top managers.

Daily Champion gathered that the mass retrenchment in banks followed a directive by CBN that banks operating in the country should cut down on their staff strength by 30 per cent.

Also to be reviewed according to the directives by the CBN is the salary structure of banks. Sanusi had given all the banks in the country the end of this year to clean up their books in preparation for a stricter operating environment in 2010.

The apex bank said it was imperative that banks watch their cost over heads with particular emphasis on staff and salaries hence the demand for a minimum of 30 per cent reduction on both ends.

When Daily Champion visited some branches of Oceanic Bank yesterday, some of the workers were seen discussing in groups even as one of them declared that “the worst is not yet over”.

It would be recalled that Oceanic Bank was among the nine banks whose executive managements were sacked on the orders of the CBN on August 14. Former chief executive of the bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged financial crimes.

The bank’s audited trading results for nine months ended September 30, 2009 showed gross earnings of N46.8 billion. This represents a 58.3 per cent decrease when compared to the N112.3 billion earned in the corresponding period of 2008.

The bank explained the drop to the suspension of interests of N93.9 on its non performing loans.

“Oceanic Bank is certainly on the part of recovery judging by the level of deposits mobilized over the last two months with a trend that shows further growth as we continue to implement aggressive deposit mobilization strategies” Mr. John Aboh who is the new group Managing director of the bank had assured.

However, the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Allied Financial Institutions (NUBIFI and Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and allied Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) have frowned at the on-going retrenchment in banks, decision of the CBN to sacrifice their members under the on-going reforms, alleging that over 21,000 workers in the banks will lose their jobs by the end of first quarter of next year. The unions based their calculation on the fact that none of the 24 banks operate with an average work force of 3,000.

Meanwhile, the ongoing mass sack in the nation’s banking sector may throw the industry into another major crisis as the organized labour yesterday threatened to shut down the affected banks to business this week.
Angered by the disengagement of more than 3,500 employees by two commercial banks last week, the two workers’ unions in the banking industry, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions’ Employees (NUBIFE) have perfected plans to fight the erring banks to a standstill.

Daily Champion learnt that the two unions are worried that their members are being made to pay the price of the ongoing reforms in the sector and therefore vowed to take fight to the end and ensure that the welfare of their members is protected

General Secretary of NUBIFE, Comrade Elijah Segun, who described as unfortunate the reform process that could lead to the mass sack in banks, claimed that the union would ensure that the welfare of its members was adequately taken care of as the union could not fold its arms to allow injustices being meted out to its members.
Source: champion.com.ng

Supreme court clears Soludo for Anambra poll

Information Nigeria — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:19:21 +0000

After fierce arguments, the Supreme Court on Thursday resuscitated the governorship ambition of a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.

The court, in a unanimous decision, set aside the Wednesday order by the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission from recognising Soludo as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the February 6, 2010 poll in Anambra State.

Swiftly, Soludo lauded the ruling by the apex court, saying “God has answered our prayer.” The PDP also said with the victory, efforts would be doubled to ensure that the former CBN chief emerged the next governor of Anambra State.

The Supreme Court had, in arriving at its decision, reasoned that irreparable damage would be done to Soludo and the PDP if the Court of Appeal‘s order was allowed to subsist.

The court ordered INEC to confer on Soludo all the rights and privileges to which other candidates taking part in the governorship election were entitled.

The court had to stand down the case to enable lawyers prepare themselves to argue their respective cases.

The Supreme Court noted that the court of appeal went too far when it ordered the former CBN governor to stop parading himself as the governorship candidate of PDP when the case filed by the two aggrieved members of PDP — Mr. Valentine Ozigbo and Mrs. Victoria Nwankwo — had not been determined on its merit.

Ozigbo and Nwankwo’s lawyer, Mr. Taiwo Abe, had challenged the appeal filed by Soludo on Wednesday and asked the court to throw it out on the grounds of incompetence.

But Soludo‘s lawyer, Mr. Patrick Ikwueto (SAN), came up with an argument to persuade the court to set aside the order restraining his client.

Ikuweto told the court that Soludo would lose the opportunity to take part in the election if it did not set aside the order.

At the end of the two lawyers’ arguments, the court felt that Soludo should be allowed to carry the flag of PDP since his name had been submitted to INEC before the aggrieved party members went to court.

Justice George Oguntade who delivered the lead ruling said that it was better for the appellants and the respondents to allow Soludo participate in the election so that their party would have a chance to take part in the election.

However, the court pointed out that if at the end, it found that Soludo ought not to have been the party‘s candidate, it would nullify his selection even if he won the February 6 election.

”This is not a victory for anyone but a victory for justice,” Oguntade said.

The Supreme Court also faulted the Court of Appeal for restraining Soludo at the point it did because the case which led to the appeal had not gone beyond the issue of jurisdiction.

It said, ”The Abuja High Court declined jurisdiction in the case. The appeal before the Court of Appeal was on whether the high court has jurisdiction or not.

“The issue of jurisdiction is yet to be determined. The court below should have determined as a preliminary point the issue of jurisdiction. A court without jurisdiction could not make a valid order. In other words, the high court could not have made the order made by the Court of Appeal.”

The court said that since Soludo‘s name had been submitted to INEC before the aggrieved party members went to court, the Court of Appeal ought to have maintained that status quo.

Three justices of the Court of Appeal — Mary Odili, Abdul Aboki and Olukayode Bada — had unanimously restrained Soludo from parading himself as PDP‘s candidate in the governoship election.

The appeal court order implied that Soludo would not be a candidate in the election until it had finally determined an appeal filed by Ozigbo and Nwankwo.

However, Soludo and PDP were dissatisfied with the Appeal court‘s ruling and quickly filed separate appeals at the Supreme Court asking for an immediate reversal of the order.

The Supreme Court had earlier asked the parties to appear before it on Thursday in respect of an interlocutory appeal filed by Soludo.

The former CBN chief however had to file an amended notice of appeal which was heard and determined on Thursday.

Reacting, Soludo described Thursday as good and thanked God for the “victory.”

Soludo, who met with some members of the PDP National Working Committee at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, expressed gratitude to the Supreme Court judges for their action.

He said the only plan the opposition had was to make sure that the PDP did not have a candidate in the election, adding that with the judgment, their plan had failed.

He said, “I think today is a good day. God has spoken and the Supreme Court has spoken and millions of Anambra people are speaking and praying.”

Also speaking, the National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, said with the apex court ruling, the party would now swing into action.

Ogbulafor said, “We are going to Anambra state in full force now. We are swinging into full action and we intend to recover lost grounds. This government is government of due process and rule of law.

“That is why we have been very patient for the judgment to come through. Now that it is done, the party will swing into full action.”

He added that the PDP would look into the case of those who took the party to court and those who have defected to other political parties and see how they could be disciplined.
Source: punchng.com

We've arrested Pa Soludo's kidnappers – Onovo

Jude — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:37:00 +0000

Police authorities in Abuja on Wednesday disclosed that they had arrested all persons involved in the kidnapping of Pa Simeon Soludo, father of immediate past governor of Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] and gubernatorial flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] in the 2010 governorship election in Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo.
Inspector General of Police IGP), Mr. Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo,who disclosed this while addressing senior police officers from the rank of Commissioners of Police and above, added that details of the kidnappers are kept under wraps for now for security reasons.
According to him, “On the issue of Soludo’s father, we have gotten the culprits. I was supposed to make a press conference today on the issue Soludo’s father. We have made some arrests and investigations are on. I believe that this crime of kidnapping will soon stop. It is still thriving because our people are paying the ransom.
“If our people refuse to pay ransom, they will stop,” he said. The IGP, however, lamented police inability to combat high profile crimes such as kidnapping and assassinations due to lack of modern facilities as well as poor working conditions.
Mr. Onovo further directed the Police Commissioners to embark on high police visibility patrol across the country as well as mounting checkpoints at high risk areas especially at Lagos -Benin, Lagos -Ibadan, Abuja -Lokoja highways among others.
He warned against extortion and other unholy practices, mandating the Commissioners of police to select and train personnel properly on courtesy and other good conduct before posting them to the checkpoints. He explained that the roadblocks were a measure to cope with high crime rates associated with the yuletide season.
According to him, “The last two months of this year will usher in Christmas and Sallah celebrations. This is a period of increased traffic on our roads and an expected upsurge in crimes. The mandate and mantle lies on us to ensure a crime-free season.
“This meeting is an opportunity to brainstorm and re-strategise on our crime prevention modalities.
“Kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes must not be allowed to persist this season. I hereby order that command Commissioners of Police to embark on high visibility patrols of their areas. Officers posted to hot spots or directing traffic must adhere to the ethics of our profession and show diligence, courtesy and kindness to citizens. Officers must be neat and polite, and at all times conduct themselves professionally.
“As the police cannot do it alone, I enjoin you to partner with well-meaning members of the public and stakeholders, particularly vigilante groups,” the IGP noted.JOIN THE FASTEST GROWING NIGERIAN FORUM

Soludo's dad's kidnappers demand N500m

Kingsley Ezeani — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:44:00 +0000

KIDNAPPERS of the 78-year-old father of embattled governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Anambra State, Professor Chukuma Soludo, yesterday, demanded N500 million ransom for the release of the septuagenarian.

The kidnappers who made the demand through a telephone call to the family, according to a close family source, said they needed the money to “offset election expenses.”
The source who spoke to Vanguard on telephone however said the kidnappers did not mention where the ransom should be deposited.
Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, while reacting to the development said the kidnap is politically-motivated just as Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Philip Leha, accused a political godfather in the state, Chief Chris Uba, as the brain behind the kidnap
Speaking on the incident, the Inspector-General warned politicians to stop seeing the issue of political office as a matter of win-at-all-cost syndrome.
Onovo who spoke during a courtesy visit to the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief
Marshal Paul Dike, said: “just yesterday night, a terrible blow was dealt on our effort at fighting kidnapping which has recorded huge success of late, with the abduction of Soludo’s father. We know it is politically-motivated, but we are going to ensure he is freed unhurt.
“Politicians should note that it is not a do-or-die affair. Politics is a game and it should be seen as such. You win some, you lose some. It should not be taken to this dangerous level of kidnapping. We will find him and free him”.
On his visit to the CDS, Onovo said, “my delegation and I are here to thank Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike for the tremendous assistance he has given to the Nigeria Police.”
source: vanguardngr.com
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Anambra guber race: Soludo emerges PDP candidate

Information Nigeria — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:27:00 +0000

IT was a theatre of the absurd yesterday at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, venue of the meeting between members of the National Working Committee(NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Anambra State stakeholders as they engaged in counter accusations which later developed into a free for all fight by the Anambra PDP members.

At least one person was injured during the fracas with the two screening machines at the main entrance to the hall pulled off.

At the end of the fracas, immediate past Central Bank Governor,CBN, Chukuma Soludo emerged candidate of the PDP for the February 6, 2010 Anambra State governorship election.

There were strong indications that the national leadership of the party was bent on forwarding his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in time to beat yesterday’s deadline for the submission of candidates by political parties contesting the election.

According to a source at the party, his choice was said to have been endorsed by members of the National working Committee(NWC) led by the party’s National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, along with that of Senator Emma Anosike as his running mate.

Their emergence followed a meeting of the NWC which was held for the purpose of picking the candidate as a result of the inability of the party to successfully conduct its state primaries having been scuttled by a court injunction restraining it from going ahead with the process.

The incident occurred when irate party members from the state, many of who did not fall into the list of invited delegates, stormed the venue and resisted attempts by security details to stop them from entering, just as they were apparently suspicious of the intention of the national leadership of the party.

The forceful removal of the doors by one of the delegates led to the National Legal Adviser of the party, Chief Olusola Oke sustaining injuries. He was was struck in the head with an empty bottle of water by another angry delegate who shouted abuses on him as he emerged from the venue of the meeting.

The meeting which first started at the National Secretariat of the Party in Wuse Zone 5 was later, due to security reasons, moved to Yar’Adua Centre where the PDP National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, said there was adequate security arrangement for them.

True to his words, the place could be mistaken for a war zone with heavily armed policemen, two Armoured Personel Carrier vehicles with registration numbers PF 5225LA and NPF 1206 C respectively and stationed at the entrance of the venue.

The policemen were led by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Ivy Okoronkwo and the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, John Haruna.

But Ogbulafor’s last minute rush to get a candidate for the Anambra State election ended in a deadlock, just as it was gathered at the time of this report that the leadership of the party had to relocate to a secret venue to meet and finally come out with a name of its candidate since the delegates could not the party a candidate as its flagbearer.

The party attempted to encourage the 47 aspirants to agree on a consensus candidate among themselves but this move also hit the rocks at the meeting.

It was also gathered that they left the venue of the meeting to brief President Yar’Adua before submitting a name to INEC.

The deadlock occurred as gathered because there were conflicting interests, while the people of Anambra insisted on producing a candidate, the leadership of the party said it would hand_pick a candidate to contest the election, even as it was said that the grouse of the Anambra politicians is that they feel the party wants to impose a candidate on them and they said they will not accept such imposition.

Olisa Metu National Vice Chairman, South East said at the gathering before Ogbulafor led other members of the NWC to the hall,“what we the people of Anambra is saying is that no outsider can choose a candidate for us. We the people of Anambra know what we want.”

It was also gathered that during the closed door meeting, those who spoke were alleged to have hurled insults at members of the National Working Committee, but the NWC members were said to have kept mute through the period as they really exhibited high level of maturity.

Those who spoke were Senators Annie Okonkwo, Joy Emodi, Onyiabo Obi, Chief J.A. Okonkwo, the founding Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Dan Chuke, former Minister, Hon. C.I.D. Maduagbo, Professor Ilochi Okafor, former Vice chancellor , Nnamdi azikiwe University, among others.

Before the commencement of the meeting proper, all former Chairmen of the Party met with Chief Dan Ulasi presenting their position that former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme’s name be submitted to INEC pending when a proper primaries would be conducted at least in the next one month or six weeks and against the backdrop that there were two court injunctions stopping the conduct of state congress and with a letter from INEC that the state has no Executive in place.

According to them, Ekwueme’s name would then be substituted before the real election and to meet the December 12 deadline for INEC for substitution. But Ekwueme however is said to be out of the country at the moment.

Others proposed that a mini_delegate election be conducted here in Abuja and such a name presented to INEC before it closes its gate and some others insisted that Andy Uba be given the party ticket.

While the three groups stuck to their position, the National Working Committee [NWC] was said to be appealing to those at the meeting to allow it pick a candidate to carry its flag.

The tone of the meeting was set earlier on at national headquarters of the party when the National Chairman of the party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor announced the party’s decision to switch the venue to YarÁdua Centre instead of the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the party as earlier advertised.

Many of the delegates who had already gathered at the main hall of the secretariat resisted the attempt as they shouted down the announcement from Prince Ogbulafor.
Undaunted, the National Chairman and members of the NWC left the hall and all the delegates eventually relocated to the new venue.

Speaking, Ogbulafor who lamented over the crisis in the party in the state, however stressed that several attempts to select a candidate for the party had been made but they have proved abortive saying therefore that the meeting was summoned to deal with the problem once and for all.

“We have invited you here today to share a moment of seriousness to see how we can jointly come up with a candidate to represent our party. That is exactly why we have invited you. Therefore, it is a meeting with stakeholders of Anambra State and please, we want it to be as quiet and smooth as possible. We don’t want any disturbance, any misunderstanding; any fracas.”

At the YarÁdua Centre, h e pleaded with them not to disgrace him as one of them who hails from Ibo land saying “my dear brothers and sisters, I am one of you. Don’t let me down and please, don’t disgrace me.”

The National Chairman who warned that other political parties were mocking the PDP, said he has never be at the negative side of history and not prepared to start with the case of Anambra, wondered whether some of the people causing the confusion were working for opposition, just as he was confident that the candidate of the party would emerge from among the aspirants gathered for the meeting and therefore requested for their cooperation.
Source: vanguardngr.com
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How Yar'Adua, Ekwueme, Anenih Endorsed Soludo

Information Nigeria — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:26:00 +0000

It is becoming clear that former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, is not the only one with the desire that he should become Anambra State Governor next year.

Daily Independent learnt at the weekend that after he left the CBN in May, he was stopped from taking up a teaching job at Oxford University in the United Kingdom so as to help redeem the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

The architects of the deal are said to include President Umaru Yar’Adua, former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme, and former PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Tony Anenih – all of who decided to do something to re-establish the party in Anambra, which it won in 1999.

Anenih commissioned a study before leaving office and discovered that the party must break away from the past by rooting for a candidate without a blemish who could win elections.

The lot originally fell on former Governor Chris Ngige, who was popular because of his achievements and also because of the successful war he waged against the godfathers in the PDP.

But the attempt to get Ngige back to power failed, according to the source.

Said he: “When the Anenih study was sent to (Ekwueme), founding BoT Chairman, he quickly reached for (Yar’Adua) and other power brokers who asked him to suggest a credible, knowledgeable, non-controversial and well known person.’

“Ekwueme asked the party to lobby Ngige to return to the PDP. But the man gave conditions which the PDP considered very difficult. The conditions included that he be given an automatic nomination.”

Ekwueme then began consultations and thereafter settled for Soludo, who had by then decided to teach at Oxford University and the Brookings Institution, a famous think tank in Washington, United States, currently headed by Strobe Talbot.

Talbot was former President Bill Clinton’s Deputy Secretary of State, who later served as an Editorial Executive at Time magazine.

This was said to have informed the role the personalities played at a highly publicised party organised for Soludo last month ostensibly to mark his tenure at the CBN. There, Ekwueme, Anenih, Yar’Adua’s close friend, C. Mangali, spoke of Soludo’s brilliance and accomplishments.

Anenih informed the gathering that he would not mind changing his name to make him eligible to participate in Soludo’s emergence as Anambra Governor.

“My name is Anenih from Edo State, but I am prepared to become Anene from Anambra State because of Soludo,” declared the former Works and Housing Minister, known as “Mr Fix It” or “Leader” because of his uncanny ways of achieving results.

However, despite reports of the endorsement of the party leadership, Soludo is said to be working towards winning the primaries on his own merit.

“When he officially declared his intention to run last Wednesday in Awka, a crowd of about 80, 000 enthusiastic supporters from all the 326 wards in the state cheered him for several hours.
“Some people thought it was a Presidential campaign rally. He promised in his manifesto to make the state the “Dubai of Africa” if elected Governor,” the source recounted.

PDP Anambra Congress Committee Chairman, Gabriel Suswam, who is Benue State Governor, affirmed in Awka on Sunday that a level playing field will be provided for all aspirants, without preference for anyone, including Soludo.

However, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) said even with that, his party would win the ballot on February 6, 2011.

Ojukwu, accompanied by APGA National Chairman, Victor Umeh, explained to journalists in Enugu that the party would win because of its followership in Anambra, “provided we are working along the right course. If we are going to cheat, anything can happen.”

Daily independent
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