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And Now the Banks Too
December 31,
2011
Politicians
think they can play politics better when they play with the “violence” variable,
using it to control the common people. It works as a diversion and a
divide-and-conquer trick etc. But
history has taught us that when violence goes out of control, even those who
ignite it cannot be guaranteed safety.
There is a difference between causing chaos for control purposes and
perpetrating violence.
Nigerians
before October 2010, have never known bombing, let alone suicide bombing. It used to be what one reads only
about in distant places. Within a
year however, it is increasingly becoming a common practice. While we cannot say for certain that
the first bombing on Independence Day last year was staged for political
purposes, it surely was used in the political arena. Shortly after the bombing, the
Presidency tried to place blame on other Northern presidential candidates, even
when the group that staged it came from the home states of the incumbent [Niger
Delta], and the group involved had openly taken responsibility before and after
the blast through press releases and calls to media outlets.
Shortly after
the anniversary bombing, the only reports of violence as heinous as that became
accredited only to Boko Haram. Even
if the kidnapping, killing, robbery and hostage taking happening in the Niger
Delta area for decades were still ongoing, we did not hear much about it. For the coming months until recently,
we only hear bombings accredited to the Boko Haram group. While some of the bombings carry the
Boko Haram trademarks – based on the trends painted by the Nigerian Press about
who they are and their modus operandi, some were however doubtful. That again throws the same doubt as
to the continuous political aspect of all such criminal activities.
The new vogue
in Nigerian criminal activities today however, appears to be bank raiding. Reading a news flash about a dual
bank robbery in the city of Azare, which was reported as the seventh robbery
within a short time at that vicinity, I tried searching for the other six events
online, but instead of them I was dismayed that many more came up that occurred
all over the country.
Headlines such
as; “The National Association of Micro-Finance Banks, Kogi State Chapter has
expressed concern on the rampant cases of bank robberies in the state. …The
association stated that the incidents are eroding public confidence in the
banking sector” [Dec. 22, 2011].
Another one same day “Two policemen were shot yesterday by armed robbers during
a robbery operation at First Bank Plc in Ikole Ekiti in Ekiti North senatorial
district of the State.” [Dec. 22, 2011] Then also “Armed robbers struck
again in Ekpoma, Edo State yesterday when they
robbed a bank, killing three
policemen and taking
away millions of
naira in the
process.” [Oct. 29, 2011]
The Azare
attack of December was likened to another within the same area, i.e. the one
from September that occurred in Misau another city not far from Azare. “Gunmen
had in similar fashion hurled four bombs at the police station, before going to
the branch of Mainstream Bank, formerly Afribank, which they robbed, carting
away about N19.2 million from its strong room. At the end of that attack, four
policemen and a 45-year-old businessman, Musa Baba, were killed” reports
Daily Trust.
The paper
quoted the commissioner of police alleging that “insider collaboration could not
be ruled out, considering the manner in which the robbers operated.”
Nigerians have
always been forced to contend with corrupt bankers. What might have aggravated the
situation to what we see these days may be traced to the recent trend of the
underhanded antics of public and private officials whose stench can be smelled
miles away. Such actions tend to justify
for other lower level public officials the brazen confidence to cart away the
poor Nigerian depositor’s money without remorse.
Corrupt
banking practice, from within and among the banking officials is not new. It has been a long time occurrence in
Nigerian Banking, traceable to at least the last thirty years, taking example
from a personal experience.
Not long after
graduating with a BA from Nigeria, I proceeded to United States briefly with my
Husband who was pursuing a Master’s Degree.
That was two years after my graduation from Bayero University. I had secured a car loan for about
three thousand Naira after graduation to buy an almost new sky blue Volkswagen
Beetle. A brand new one at that
time is between four to five thousand Naira.
At that time the Naira holds a higher value than the American Dollar
[about One dollar 33 cents to a Naira i.e. Four Dollars to Three Nigerian
Naira].
I came back to
Nigeria not long after joining my husband to apply for Leave without pay from
Nigerian Television Authority NTA, where I worked then. A few weeks before I departed Nigeria
for my own Master’s degree, I went to the bank to settle the balance of the car
loan which amounts to a little over one thousand Naira. I wrote a check number 020153 on my
account number 2023 at United Bank for Africa located at 37 Murtala Muhammed Way
Jos, in Plateau State [I still have the record]. My records indicate that I
wrote that check on December 12, 1984.
Not much was left in the account after that.
So the first
time I returned home for vacation, I went to the bank to add some money into the
account and was surprised when I found out that the account was in the negative
for about the amount of the car loan balance.
I immediately went to the Manager who was new to me and told him that I
had settled my car loan before I left for further studies abroad. Investigation showed that a bank
teller [counter clerk] who processed the balance settlement an Awwal Abdullahi,
took the money.
Awwal who
appears like a nice outgoing guy, is obviously a drunk, owing to the number of
times he smelled like it, or has come to work with injuries from minor
accidents. The bank for whatever
reason maintained him as an employee.
Awwal called me by the side and begged me that he would pay it back. He said if I do not help, they may
fire him. I told him we have to go
together to the manager to settle the matter.
The manager told me he would make him sign an agreement for repayment.
Did they do that? I do not know, because
my appetite for maintaining an account at the bank while I was not there to
monitor it was gone after that incident. I
just cleared my record and name and left the bank.
Things have
gotten worse since then. Ethical
responsibility of professionals such as bankers and accountants is declining
fast. Law enforcement is almost
non-existent. Even in those days,
1980s, it was rumored that Police Commissioners work with robbers, and share
loots. While no one wants to just
believe those allegations without some evidence, the almost total
ineffectiveness of the police in preventing and or combatting crime was the
evidence. Robbers operate in almost total freedom, as members of the public are
left to fend for themselves.
Nigerian
leadership will serve itself better when it stops using and or encouraging
violence to maintain power. The rot,
for which the ultimate goal is the maintenance of power by the minority, will
continue to water down law and order until the whole country breaks down. By that time like the bad apple in a
basket, the whole basket will rot down and exist no more.
Such intrigues have not helped in other
countries as we can openly see, and it will definitely not help Nigeria.
(c) The Optimist Voice. All Rights Reserved.
