About 42.11 percent of workers in Nigerian banks are employed as contract workers, a new report by the National Bureau of Statistics has shown.
As of the end of September 2020, the report stated that 23 banks operating in the country employed a total of 95,888 workers. Out of this number, 40,382 of them were contract on contract.
The NBS revealed that the total number of contract staff in the banking sector stood at 45,350 in Q4, 2019, while the total workforce was 103,610.
Further analyses of the data indicated that two out of every five people working in Nigerian banks are contract staff.
Financial institutions covered in the employment statistics include commercial banks, merchant banks and non-interest banks.
Contract employees are typically employed on a non-permanent basis without benefits such as health insurance, paid leave, and other compensation enjoyed by full-time employees.
A variant of contract job is casualisation. Shrinking economy and the consequent growing unemployment and underemployment have many workers susceptible to casual and contract jobs.
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Further breakdown of the data provided by the NBS showed out of the banks’ total workforce, 241 were executive staff; 17,618 were senior staff, 37,647 were junior staff while the rest were on contract level.
In the first quarter of 2020, the banks had 41,181 contract staff out of 96,975 workers; while in Q2, 2020, the sector had 38,942 contract staff out of 94,498 workers.
The need to cut down on cost had forced a number organisations to resort to contract employment which a number of labour unions are opposed to.
There is a bill before the Senate seeking to put an end to the the casualisation of employment in the private and public sector.
The bill passed second reading in the Senate on Thursday, February 18, 2021.
The bill seeks to abolish the culture of contractual staffing in the workforce, with many lawmakers noting that it is detrimental to the nation’s economy.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo Central – PDP), described casualisation of employment as an immoral strategy of cutting cost by employers.
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The lawmaker said the practice was making work less secure as workers are recruited and fired at will, and subjected to inhumane working conditions.
He argued that passing the bill into law would put Nigerian graduates in their rightful place to add value to the Nigerian economy in all ramifications.
Senator Smart Adeyemi representing Kogi West describes casualisation as a system of the West, saying it was ‘modern-day slavery’ and ‘debasement’ of highly-qualified Nigerians.
“It is just inexplicable to have some of our citizens being captured under this devilish and wicked system of employment, and you see them working for years without any future for them.
“This casualisation is just a system of keeping some people as slaves. Let this bill be supported and let us pass it into law and stop the enslavement of our younger generation,” he said.
