Nigerian Banks And Their Staff

I have been prompted to write this article due to three reasons. One: Receiving a mail from a relation on Thursday, 27 November, 2008, that her friend, a male staff of a bank, had been told by his manager to get N10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira) as his target before he could be duly promoted. Two: Getting a distressed text from a female staff of another bank on Monday, 1 December, 2008. Three: The cartoon on page B6 of Sunday Independent, 7 December, 2008. Here, I would not like to reveal the ladys name, but for a flow of thought and instead of using the term, the lady many times, I am going to use the name, Mercy. In the text, the seemingly frustrated Mercy who has just sought appointment into the said bank wrote that the Bank Regional Manager visited the bank and after he had left, the Branch Manager called her and told her to use her pretty face to look for N15,000,000.00 (Fifteen Million Naira) within a specific period. Leaving the Managers office, Mercy quickly sent me a text narrating her bitter experience (not Mama Iyabos bitter-sweet experience with Baba Iyabo). She was perplexed and she wrote that her new job was at stake as she did not know how she could meet the target set for her by the manager. Mercy hails from Edo State and her bank is in a state in the south-west, hence, her message to me. She wanted me to assist her in this arduous task. I am not used to deceiving people, but I told Mercy that I would try and appeal to some decent people to patronize her bank. Honestly, since I received the text, I had been pondering on this issue of Nigerian Banks and their staff. The cartoon referred to above gave a real picture of the operation of most of the banks, if not all, in Nigeria. In the cartoon, the plump Bank Managing Director was sitting in his office addressing a lady with a tag on her dress, new staff. There were some plaques displaced on the wall of the MDs office. There were two readable captions on two boards. One: Award Bank of the Year. The second one was bigger and boldly written too than the first: 2008 Financial Target Female Staff: N100 Billion; Male Staff N10 Million. Note of Warning: Defaulting Staff would be sacked. The MDs address to the new staff was: I repeat: Dont let the corrupt officials seduce you. But you seduce them into parting with their stolen money. The lady looked bewildered. With the MDs statement, it seems the new female staff is to lure possible customers to her bank. This is the summary of the demand of most banks in Nigeria from their staff, particularly from their female staff. I am aware that some people have written against the attitude of these banks, but I would like to propose here that efforts should be coordinated and intensified in addressing this important issue. For instance, for over one week now, Mercy has been sick since her manager gave her the target of N15,000,000.00. Her fear is that with the international financial crisis, she is not sure that she can get the amount the manager is asking her to seek. I tend to believe that in that bank, Mercy will not be the only staff given such target. I learnt this is called marketing. By marketing, staff, particularly, female, are sent out to look for possible customers, mainly the wealthy ones in the society, no matter the source of their wealth. I recollect that about four years ago, security agencies had to beam their searchlight on some banks being used by some corrupt and dubious people in the society, depositing huge amount of money in the banks, while some top bank officials colluded with them. To date, such banks have become part of history. They

have gone into oblivion. In fact, the emergence of Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo as the Governor of Nigerias Central Bank seems to have brought sanity to the banking industry in Nigeria. I hope the Professor will also address this issue of marketing which portends serious danger to our society. If care is not taken, the corrupt and dubious people will use the so-called marketing to be dictating the banking industry since the banks are now fond of giving target to their staff without minding the character of their would-be customers. We still recollect how some chief executives and staff of certain banks were indicted for colluding with dubious rich people and politicians in our society in the past. Job security should not be tied to any marketing or target. Really, this type of attitude gives tension and it makes the staff unproductive because their primary attention will always be on how to scout for the so-called rich and powerful in the society. Within the staff too, there may be unnecessary and unhealthy rivalry. It is observed that most people tend to be productive and joyful in their work or assignment in a conducive and threat-free environment. The staff will strive to work together as a concerned team and exert themselves for the growth and development of their organization. By setting target for their staff and threatening them of sack if such target is not met, banks are treating their staff as mere objects to be used, hired and fired due to their inability to deliver, instead of treating them as human beings with dignity. However, people who threaten others deficient. Rather than threatening their staff, I suggest that these banks top officials need to review their jumbo salaries and other allowances. This is also affecting the growth of the banks. It is just like those holding political officers earning lots of money while the masses are languishing in poverty. As the gap between the political leaders and the people are very wide, the same tends to be the same with the banks top officials and other staff. With the present world-wide economic recession, practical steps must be taking to avoid any chaos and anarchy in the banking industry. Concerning the above point on the issue of Setting Salaries, in his response to a discussion on the current international financial problem, Jorge Rodriguez states: Do we have an understanding of what these high salaries for top executive levels have on the individual, on corporations, and on society in general? There seem to be signs that tell us that by using higher salaries and bigger bonuses to attract individuals to these executive positions we are encouraging culture of materialism and of greed that then permeates into the whole system and begins to produce very negative results and that the system will attract to these positions individuals who are materialistic and greedy and who do not care about the people who they are supposed to be serving. Rodriguez goes further: Is this a nave view, or is there a chance that our society could produce capable individuals to serve at those levels who are looking for something else, who will see themselves as stewards, as ministers in service of the people and will find satisfaction from that? I am in line with the view of Rodriguez bearing in mind of what the President-elect of the United States of America, Senator Barack Obama, said recently that the top executive officers of the troubled auto industry in America had to sacrifice their salaries and bonuses as part of saving the auto sector. The salaries and allowances of most of the top executive officers are contributing

factors to financial crisis now being experienced by the so-called big industries, including the banks. I suggest that this trend is reviewed genuinely to avoid the crisis reaching its crescendo. The same thing is equally applicable to the outrageous salaries and allowances of the political office holders of Nigeria. These people who regard themselves as special, keep increasing their salaries and allowances indiscriminately and seem not to be bothered about the plight of the people they claim to be serving. The people are angry that their leaders are not addressing the issues affecting their growth and development, and once they gather themselves and decide to take a step in their struggle for good governance, then there may be serious repercussions in Nigeria. Therefore, we need to face the realities of life to avoid chaos and violent protests in our society. Unfortunately too, the National Assembly members tend not to be doing much on issues affecting the people, but regularly, they are quick to decide on outrageous salaries and allowances for themselves. I sense that if the situation continues like this, there may be peoples revolution like the one that happened in Thailand last year, where the people took over the major airports in Bangkok to demand for the removal of the countrys Prime Minister. For days, the people sacrificed a lot in their peaceful, but powerful and coordinated protest. With the pressure from the people, the Prime Minister had to resign. This is the result of the positive use of the peoples power. This is why President Umar Musa YarAdua should start facing the task of good governance at a fast pace instead of aligning with the so-called Nigerias former state governors who seem to be on their way of having an ex-governors forum to continue to exploit the people just as they did while in government. Is the presidents romance with this group productive corruption or negotiated move? Or this is the eighth point agenda of the present administration. Anyway, one observes that YarAduas seven point agenda is more noticeable on paper and publicity than action. May the Year 2009, which I have termed Year of Hope and Commitment, be a blessed and fruitful one for us, and may God have mercy on us. Amen. Never look down on anybody, and be grateful when you can invest in the lives of other people. Let us join hands together to fight evil in our society. With confidence in God, Christ is our strength. Most Rev. Felix Femi Ajakaye Coadjutor Bishop of Ekiti Diocese 13 January, 2009.