Interest rate to drop - Soludo

Gbola Subair, Abuja

Chukwuma Soludo, Governor, CBN

Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria{CBN}, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has said that the interest rate would drop soon disclosing futher that next year January, the inflation level would be brought down to a single digit. Speaking atthe just concluded 13th Nigerian Economic Summit, Professor Soludo explained that with the dropping of the interest rate,a lot of business opportunities would then opened for Nigeria thereby making the set target of 2020 as Nigeria becoming one of the twenty largest economies of the world realisable.

For Nigeria to achieve the set target, he said there was the urgent need for the macro economy to be stable, adding effective and working infrastructure must be put in place, just as he opined that the country need to grow at 13-15 per cent per annum if Nigeria as a country must get there. Prof Soludo, who stressed the need for benchmarking among states and nations, said once a nation puts aside the issue of benchmarking, that country should be considered dead, adding that basic questions that should crop our minds should be where will the world be in the year 2020 and what are those factors that may likely utter where we ought to be, just as he said that by the year 2020 or 2025, the world will be entirely different in the areas of Information Technology, Biotechnology, our food, among others.

According to him, “In 2020, the world will discover an alternative source of energy, trade barriers will disappear especially as we look into the second round of World Trade Organisation (WTO). There will be fewer financial institutions, high technology that will be science driven by 2025”. He also admitted that 50 per cent of Nigerians live in abject poverty, 60 per cent of Nigerian graduates unemployed, said the nation needs to move fundamentally out of the box by having a vision as well as plan and carry out effective action.

In her remarks, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Mrs Amina Ibrahim who called for partnership between the three tiers of government, said there was the need for capacity building as a basic requirement to meeting the set target of 2020, adding that Nigerians must believe in the reform agenda of the government especially the Electoral Reform panel.

Silent troubles of bankers

By Femi Ibirogba

THE rate of outright or disguised unemployment as well as attractive remuneration packages in the banking industry make working in the industry not only attractive but also enviable, especially to young graduates in the country. Just as oil and telecommunication companies, entry-level bank employees are handsomely paid, well equipped with modern banking tools, aided with the state-of-the-art information technology gadgets and they, no doubt, operate in conducive working environments.

However, there are several silent dangers embedded in working as employees of banking organisations. These dangers are so implicit that one can hardly observe if not for experiences of bank employees themselves and observations exposed by keen banking industry observers. These remuneration and technology-coated dangers range from strained relationships to sexual harassment or professionally induced prostitution.

Global competitiveness and need for high profitability as well as impressive returns on shareholders’ investments now propel the post-consolidation banks to employ outrageous and aggressive marketing strategies that have little or no respect for human values or virtues. Beautiful young ladies are employed into the marketing departments of some banks to woo and attract patronage from captains of industry, giving whatever it takes. These ladies are given deadlines and targets and failure to meet the targets at the appointed times attracts ruthless penalties in forms of suspension and pay stoppage or deduction.

What follows? Troubled young ladies, in order to retain their jobs, stoop to sexual pressures from their prospective clients, rendering themselves vulnerable to the dangers of the scourge of HIV/AIDS. Relationships, for bank employees, are totally strained and jeopardised. Married bankers hardly spend meaningful periods of time with their spouses and children. Those who are not married have little or no time for courtship or friendship, while those who are already into some friendship or courtship end up in failure. To sustain any relationship, time is inevitable, but bankers’ have no control over their times, for they work on Saturdays and Sundays at the detriment of their marriages, friendships or courtships.

Dr. Muyiwa Ijarotimi, a banker with one of the strongest banks in Nigeria, said, “As a banker, one has no time for oneself, one’s spouse or children. Many of us even work on Saturdays and Sundays, depending on the bank in question. Really, it strains relationships and family sense of belonging for the married ones.” He said further, “Single bankers are terribly affected because they find it difficult to start or maintain a relationship and that is why we have too many unmarried bankers, especially ladies, who are ripe for marriage.” Health defects that emanate from restless lifestyle and long hours on the job may be the lots of new generation bank workers. Scientists, in their findings, say too much eye exposure to computer monitors without intermittent time off is dangerous to the eyes. Not only that, sedentary working style of bankers is not good for their health. Exposure to too much air-conditioners, mental and physical stress, coupled with solitude of single bankers may result into frequent break down of health.

Restlessness, anxiety and stress have been linked to high blood pressure, and bankers are prone to these risk factors more than any other category of employees. An anonymous banker with Skye Bank, in Ibadan said that bankers were deprived of intimate relationships with their loved ones because the system is too deman-ding.