ECOBANK SACKS TOP MANAGERS

The management of Ecobank Nigeria Plc has sacked at least 50 of its top management staff due to worsening economic situation in the Country.

The Cable reports that a top management staff of the bank said the development came as a shock to those affected and that although the issue had been discussed in the past, they did not expect it to take effect so soon.

The source said each of dismissed staff was earning nothing less than N25 million per annum, revealing that they were handed their dismissal letters on Tuesday.

“The sack affected those occupying the position of assistant general manager and above. They were asked to go because the top is heavy and the bank needs to be making good profit,” he said.

“They have been sacking junior staff and promoting themselves. Some of them have spent up to nine years on a particular position, restricting the growth of lower-cadre staff.

The bank authorities sat over this issue and did not even look at the duration spent in office, because one of the four persons affected in my department was promoted just last year.

“The group said since the bank is struggling, it is not supposed to be spending much on salaries.”

The source added that the decision to lay off the senior staff yielded fruit because of the change in the leadership of the bank.

“The issue of downsizing had been in the pipeline because the economy did not nosedive all of a sudden,” he continued.

A statement by Ecobank confirming the layoff said the affected officials had performed below the company’s expectation.

The Deputy Managing Director, Ecobank, Mr. Anthony Okpanachi,said “The management of Ecobank Nigeria Limited has announced the recent promotion of about 300 top performing workers.

“The promotion exercise, which affected about 10 per cent of the employees, is in line with the bank’s commitment to recognising and rewarding excellence and exceptional performance. The promoted workers cut across all cadres of the workforce. Also, few staff members that performed below expectation have been exited.”

According to the statement, the affected staff members were selected through an appraisal exercise conducted using an in-house performance management system, which used both financial and non-financial metrics to categorize workers.

“The performance parameter used to determine the performance of those promoted also revealed the under