Access Bank Laying Off 75% Workforce, Says GMD Herbert Wigwe …Branches May Close Till December

Kola Kehinde/

Access Bank Plc is shedding 75 per cent of its workforce, says its Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe.

Wigwe made the announcement Thursday in a video broadcast explaining why he had to sack those he described as non-essential workers and slash the salaries of the remaining workforce.

He announced that he would cut 40 per cent off his own salary and then the pay-cut would cascade through the institution.

He said that he took what he called a difficult decision to protect Access Bank’s franchise and keep the financial institution strong.

He said, “We probably don’t need as many security men as usual, even as we are not going to have all our branches open between now and December. We certainly don’t need all the security men; we don’t need the tea girls; we don’t need all the cleaners; we don’t need all the tellers etc, etc.

“That number of staff which represents 75 per cent of our staff strength is the one we need to speak to their employers, to rationalize, to basically sustain a lean but actually customer-service oriented institution.”

Watch the Video announcement:

The bank’s decision has, however, been queried through some reactions on Twitter.

One of the posts says, “Access Bank donated N1 billion to FG in the name of fighting Covid-19. Then this month, they cut salaries of employees. In the name of hard times. Donate money to people that didn’t ask. Starve people who work for you.”

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