NIGERIAN BANKS, STOP STEALING OUR LITTLE MONIES! The trend right now in Nigeria is the exploitation of poor Nigerians – who happened to constitute the Nigerian majority – by various institutions that were otherwise meant to protect and serve their interests. It is not like it’s new but it’s getting bolder a trend. Just recently, Abba Moro and his Nigerian Immigration Services worked very hard at executing this and making sure it doesn’t remain an in-house speculation that Nigerians who have no jobs and have no money are being milked dry. They boldly told the hapless Nigerian public that Saturday: “the predator must have to eat and you must make the food!” Now, this is how the middle and lower classes are being conspired against: the political sector milks us dry from outside; the banking sector milks us dry from inside! Many Nigerians are very much aware of the daily frauds and robberies going on in banks where we secure our little monies. Those frauds come in hydra-headed forms and in different shades while our monies disappear in kobos and nairas. But most times, we just overlook them and retain our peace. I am personally not given to the niceties, shoe-shine and smart dressings of Nigerian bankers while they defraud you courteously. I do not normally notice all that ‘sparkling’ about them. But you know what I see beneath all that? Quiet thieves, pen robbers and corporate fraudsters! I am not an economist and I am not interested in becoming one but there is commonsensical economics some of us know that can’t be distorted or taught to us. Sometimes, the Nigerian Banking sector seeks to distort and make such economics look like rocket science while insulting our intelligences. And on this regard, former CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had this to say in his last TEDex speech: “Banks do not fail. When people say banks have failed, it’s like seeing a man whose throat has been slit and you say the man died. He did not die, he was killed”. This statement, by implication and in clear words, means that the Nigerian banking sector knows when it steals from us and does so whenever it pleases it. And that explains my reason for writing this. My Diamond Bank ATM card had got trapped in a branch of Sterling Bank’s ATM. That was the second time it happened. The first time, I was instructed to wait for a whole one week and some days before I could go pick it up from a certain Diamond Bank branch. But this time, the lady at the Customers Service of Sterling Bank told me frontally when I complained of my trapped card: “we don’t give back trapped cards again. We destroy them. It’s the new CBN policy”. “Since when did CBN make this policy because it’s not long I had a card trapped here?” I demanded. She went ahead to tell me that it wasn’t that new a policy but it’s not known because some banks carried out that policy while some never did. I inquired why this never came to the public domain for discussions and debates, or for awareness, at least. She replied rather sincerely; “the whole thing isn’t yet clear and acceptable and some banks are not being sincere about their stands on it”. I went back to Diamond Bank and complained. The Customer Care guy asked me to wait for one week or more to see if the card would be returned to them as he believes the policy is a bit ridiculous to be taken serious. But he added; “in case it’s not returned, you will have to request for another ATM card and that would cost a thousand and fifty naira”. That was when I reminded myself that these people are all thieves and are playing me. Two weeks gone and no ATM card with me. I went to another Diamond Bank branch to check my card but got it not. I returned to the Sterling Bank that seized my card and the lady maintained that they’ve destroyed and have continued to destroy cards trapped in their ATM. I returned to the initial Diamond Bank where I made my complaint and furiously asked the Customer Care guy to make that ‘mystery’ clear to me and stop haranguing me about the whole town, all in a bid to get back my ATM card. After I’ve spoken louder to the hearing of other customers who were awestruck about this quiet fraud that might happen to them soonest, the guy brought out a 3-page document and asked me to read it. I read and saw that the policy was First Bank policy which a few other banks adopted and not CBN – at least, according to the document. The Customer Care guy proceeded to make some explanations which sounded sweet to the ears but which were nevertheless the normal criminally nice words they are wont to. I proceeded to ask him these after he had explained what I managed to listen to: • You mean this is all about a hide and seek game to make profits from many of us who manage to save the little we have? • You mean banks are now fighting like the elephants and we, the customers are suffering it like the grasses? • You mean when I get a new ATM card and it happens to get trapped in another bank tomorrow, I will have to apply for a new one forthwith whether I got it today or not, and would be charged another one thousand and fifty naira? • So, why are you all talking about this in hushed tones if you have nothing under your sleeves? • Why hasn’t the Nigerian public been enlightened on this and their opinions sampled? • So, you mean I must make use of Diamond Bank ATM whether it is close to me or not, whether it’s functional or not, whether I like it or not, just not to risk my card getting trapped and destroyed afterwards? To these questions which I believe represented the public opinion, he just opened his mouth and closed and said little or nothing. I told him I’m bringing this to the public for we can’t continue to afford apathy at their corporate thefts while they grow fat and steal more – not from the people who stole much and became deep pockets – but from us, who have little for our upkeep. I should have to note before hand that some hare-brained Nigerians reading this are wont to ask: “what’s a thousand and fifty naira that one wouldn’t pay and obtain a new ATM card and keep his peace?” Such Nigerians are the reason/s why the evil in Nigeria is a leviathan. They forget that no evil starts big. It only starts small. And it has always been the case with Nigeria since Independence. And with this, let Nigerians know this new hide-and-seek policy and see the clearly spelt fraud and disservice in it, discuss it, debate it and reject it. But before then, might I tell Nigerian Banks on behalf of those who work for their money: stop stealing our little monies!
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 19:32:44 +0000
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