Kindly advise me...

I am about to change careers after spending more than 10 years in the banking industry and rising to the level of an Assistant Manager. It is a very tough decision but it is one that I have been nursing for years now.

Many people I have spoken to concerning this have advised me not to do so as I have a very lucrative career now. As an Assistant Manager in one of Nigeria's and Africa's biggest banks, my monthly and annual remunerations are to be envied. There are also many perks that come with the job along with countless opportunities and access to the highest offices in the state. Some people have even referred to my decision as irrational, reckless and crazy!!!

However, the truth is that the banking industry is a very far cry from what it used to be. When I joined my place of employment in May, 2004, bankers were the toast of society. Banking was the most available well paying job and there was always massive recruitments going on in most of them. Also, banks were in serious competition for the best and the most experienced hands while they were struggling to keep theirs. This forced banks to create the best welfare packages for their staff in order to make the staff want to stay. Those were better days...

Now, things are a tad different. Banks are much bigger, but also much fewer. From 89 or so banks in 2004 to 24 deposit money banks today, the change has been colossal. Over these 11 years, banks have let many of their staff go. Almost every year, almost every bank has reduced their staff strength. 1,000 from one bank, 700 from another, 500 from yet another, that has been the story.

And the retrenchments have been across board! Every level of staff has been asked to leave. General Managers, DGMs, AGMs right down to new, entry level staff, many have been asked to leave. Even executive directors of banks have not been spared. A particular bank had to let four of their executive directors go in one year!

Added to that, these retrenchments come without warning! A particular General Manager had meetings with a few staff under his supervision until very late one night only to get home and receive an SMS telling him that he had been axed! Yes. His came through a text message! He was the last person to have expected to received such, especially after putting in more than 20 years to the bank, and after bringing customers with incredibly huge deposits into the bank. He felt utterly shocked and disappointed at the way he was discarded, like a ragdoll no longer wanted by its owner.

I think I am ripe for change. I want to setup a practice. I want to be free from the shackles banking in Nigeria places on bankers. I want to work for myself. Let me bear the consequences of my hard work or otherwise. It is a tough decision, but I hope it is the right one. Kindly advise me.