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ACCESS BANK'S SACK OF POLY AND STATE UNIVERSITIES DEGREE HOLDERS

ig Imokhuede, the head of the three fusing banks- Access, Marina and Capital banks- under the name Access Bank "'stirred the hornet's nest" last week when he summoned staff of the other two fusing banks (Marina and Capital banks) who have come to join Access Bank and had surrendered their identities to the new Access group and sacked them on the account of their qualifications and institutions attended.

Imokhuede's actions will generate a list of reactions from different quarters for his non- diplomatic handling of an issue that requires diplomacy. He will have a lot of explanations to do to the leadership of the NLC and show reason why the labour movement will not picket his bank.

Apart from the NLC, perhaps the sacked staff will be wise enough to embark on class- action suit to justify the value of their certificates, because it is most likely that he will want to break their rank and file by forewarning that those who sue the bank will at the end of the day, not have their severance pay as agreed upon under the sack arrangement.

There will also be so much public reactions such that the legislative chambers may invite him to do some explanations. The institutions of higher learning that are being indicted by this action would not just fold their arms as if nothing has happened. Part of the reaction to this action is this write up itself as it is intended to make reasonable and fair comments on Imokhuede's decision.

To start with, most of the sacked workers are breadwinners in their own right and Imokhuede did not give any other reasons for their sack other than that they had the "misfortune", to have attended some higher institutions even though are accredited institutions of learning by the Universities Commission. These schools are part included in admissions policy like all other schools in the land. They are listed in JAMB and POLYJAMB examinations. Prospective candidates for admissions to those universities and polytechnics are expected to have some secondary school and higher secondary schools certificate before they are admitted.

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In more than fifteen years in Nigeria, the quality of education has been in steady decline, just as it has affected other facets of our lives. This rot started to manifest greatly in the second republic, with a stop- gap under the Buhari Dictatorship, only to go on further decline under successive regimes. However, the question to ask is how has this national problem become the problem of state owned universities and that of the polytechnics? As there are many bad products from states universities and polytechnics, so also are bad products from federal universities and polytechnics, not all products from federal universities are good and not all states and polytechnic graduates are bad.

For instance, LASU law department had some laurels some years back for producing overall best law students in law school. LASU also has highly brilliant academics; the likes of Dr. Abubarkar Momoh and Dr. Said Adejumobi are brilliant lecturers in the department of political science and there are so many others like them in different states owned universities. Does Imokhuede doubt the knowledge these crop of decent and hardworking academics will impart on their students?

The real issue is that there is an endemic social problem in our country that will take many years to sort out. Only God knows how many graduates from different federal universities had their WAEC written on their behalf and are now sitting in high profile offices in Nigeria now. Another issue is that we lay too much emphasis on paper qualifications as against individual abilities and we have allowed so many talents to waste away because of this misnomer. There are so many brains we have abandoned at home that have made showings outside the shores of the country.

Education is supposed to be the acquisition and utilization of knowledge and the ability to manipulate one's environment. Those workers that are being asked to go home now have not been the problems or liabilities of their respective banks that have decided to merge with Access Bank; their organizations cave in by government's policy summersaults. There are different opinions on how banks should be structured, some schools of thought believe that there should be different categories of banks with different capital base, but pro-Obasanjo economic reformers believe all should have same capital base of N25Billion. Part of the fall out of this is what is coming out now because the weaker banks in the alliance hardly have any say not to talk of having their way.

In more civilized worlds, workers are protected from discriminations such that disabled are employed and are well protected in and out of work. There are provisions for training and retraining of workers to attain optimum potentials.

If we may ask, which university did Imokhuede attend? And if he had attended the best university in the world, it may be as a result of his background. Not everybody is privileged to have that kind of opportunity. President Clinton did not attend Harvard and yet he made a good president. Alhaji Jakande was never a university graduate, he made a good governor. We have a PHD holder as a governor who is now in court on allegations of corruption.

This is however not an attempt to underestimate importance of education in all human endeavours. Education is important and quality education for that matter should be a prerequisite to embark on many endeavours. There should however not be any discrimination against holders of certificates from certain institutions once they are duly certified.

The most important thing is that standards must be attained right from the foundation stage all through other schools. The rot in the system is what we should fight instead of indicting certain categories of certificate holders that have not been proven to have cut corners in obtaining their certificates.

Aig Imokhuede must be strongly admonished for his arrogance of position and advantage. Fellow citizens deserve a modicum of honor in relationship between employers and employees, government and the governed, among neighbours and in deed in all facets of life. Summoning workers to office under the guise of "re-interviewing" only to be told they are sacked for holding qualifications from certain recognized institutions smack off arrogance and insensitivity and it is therefore condemnable.