This events chronicled herein truly occurred as the world spun past this morning.
Today I took it upon myself to pay up all individuals and groups I was indebted to. This involved visiting three big time Nigerian banks. These transactions which could have simply been carried out with my PC, had to be done the old school way because online transactions are not common (no one I know has ever used the system), hence it could n''t be trusted.
Aside the long queues and the ages it took to get served, these banks are are quite in contrast with what you'd see in the slick adverts on CNN or NTA (Nigerian Banks do ads on CNN). The staff are not that friendly, and you can waste a lot of productive time just waiting for your turn ( I kill time watching TV whenever I visit a bank)
In one of the Banks I visited, (this bank boasts of ''Pan- Africaness'') the bulk room where I went to pay in money was desecrated with graffiti on the side boards. Yes! Graffiti, scrawlings along the walls of the board, on the door and on the counter. These writings came in different styles and colour, all written with Biros though. each contributor to the piece declared his love for Barcelona, Podolski or Wizkid one upcoming musician wrote his name and urged readers to "watch out for him". A vast majority of writers however, poured curses on the bank, a lot of F words being freely used in the process. Going from what I saw, these writings must have been on those walls for weeks, How did I know? someone wrote about Barca succeeding in the Champions League! So what does this say? First, the bank had been bad for long, it didn't just start. Secondly, the bank doesn't care! if not who enjoys working in an environment with plenty F words scrawled all around?
The most annoying of the banks i visited regularly bugs me on Facebook. In fact you can open a bank account on Facebook! So some weeks back when the opportunity arose, I quickly opened an account on Facebook marveling with great gladness in my heart about the fact that Nigerian firms are now ahead ahead when IT application in business was considered. My Error. Today, armed with the Activation code the Facebook page allotted me, I marched to the bank,planning within me to congratulate the staff and tell them how impressed I was with their Bank's innovation. The first person I met directed me to another staff, this staff then passed me to another guy, who then passed me to Comfort.
When I mentioned the reason I had come, Comfort maybe sensing I was expecting the praise I know I deserved for being IT savvy decided to burst my bubble.
"why would anyone want to open a Bank account on Facebook?" She queried very loudly.
"for convenience" I humbly replied, still expecting the praise I deserved.
Comfort then burst into a long thought provoking speech,"Is it not the same thing? opening an account online and opening the account at the branch directly".
I must confess I felt stupid, she continued " whether you open then bank account on Facebook or you manually open it, you still have to come to the bank so I see no sense in it".
It was at this point she stopped making sense, why would she complain about that to me? I didn't impose the idea on her bank, I didn't.
Comfort continued "well, me I don't know how this Facebook account thing works o, in fact all of us in this branch don't, I will have to mail Lagos first. It will take long before we hear from them".
That settled it, upon all the hype online and all that, the bank didn't train its staff on the new product it was marketing. There was much noise about it yet little groundwork. At this point I digress, this thing about much hype little groundwork is a Nigerian thing. Tomorrow you'll hear the Federal Government bandying awesome statistical figures about, ground work? its = 0. You will hear X Telecom company claiming it has 3.75G coverage all over the country, upon closer investigation you'll find that what they have in your city is a vampire type 3G network, its only 3.75G at night.
With all my anger at Comfort and her banker colleagues adequately vented, I now push the send button.
Today I took it upon myself to pay up all individuals and groups I was indebted to. This involved visiting three big time Nigerian banks. These transactions which could have simply been carried out with my PC, had to be done the old school way because online transactions are not common (no one I know has ever used the system), hence it could n''t be trusted.
Aside the long queues and the ages it took to get served, these banks are are quite in contrast with what you'd see in the slick adverts on CNN or NTA (Nigerian Banks do ads on CNN). The staff are not that friendly, and you can waste a lot of productive time just waiting for your turn ( I kill time watching TV whenever I visit a bank)
In one of the Banks I visited, (this bank boasts of ''Pan- Africaness'') the bulk room where I went to pay in money was desecrated with graffiti on the side boards. Yes! Graffiti, scrawlings along the walls of the board, on the door and on the counter. These writings came in different styles and colour, all written with Biros though. each contributor to the piece declared his love for Barcelona, Podolski or Wizkid one upcoming musician wrote his name and urged readers to "watch out for him". A vast majority of writers however, poured curses on the bank, a lot of F words being freely used in the process. Going from what I saw, these writings must have been on those walls for weeks, How did I know? someone wrote about Barca succeeding in the Champions League! So what does this say? First, the bank had been bad for long, it didn't just start. Secondly, the bank doesn't care! if not who enjoys working in an environment with plenty F words scrawled all around?
The most annoying of the banks i visited regularly bugs me on Facebook. In fact you can open a bank account on Facebook! So some weeks back when the opportunity arose, I quickly opened an account on Facebook marveling with great gladness in my heart about the fact that Nigerian firms are now ahead ahead when IT application in business was considered. My Error. Today, armed with the Activation code the Facebook page allotted me, I marched to the bank,planning within me to congratulate the staff and tell them how impressed I was with their Bank's innovation. The first person I met directed me to another staff, this staff then passed me to another guy, who then passed me to Comfort.
When I mentioned the reason I had come, Comfort maybe sensing I was expecting the praise I know I deserved for being IT savvy decided to burst my bubble.
"why would anyone want to open a Bank account on Facebook?" She queried very loudly.
"for convenience" I humbly replied, still expecting the praise I deserved.
Comfort then burst into a long thought provoking speech,"Is it not the same thing? opening an account online and opening the account at the branch directly".
I must confess I felt stupid, she continued " whether you open then bank account on Facebook or you manually open it, you still have to come to the bank so I see no sense in it".
It was at this point she stopped making sense, why would she complain about that to me? I didn't impose the idea on her bank, I didn't.
Comfort continued "well, me I don't know how this Facebook account thing works o, in fact all of us in this branch don't, I will have to mail Lagos first. It will take long before we hear from them".
That settled it, upon all the hype online and all that, the bank didn't train its staff on the new product it was marketing. There was much noise about it yet little groundwork. At this point I digress, this thing about much hype little groundwork is a Nigerian thing. Tomorrow you'll hear the Federal Government bandying awesome statistical figures about, ground work? its = 0. You will hear X Telecom company claiming it has 3.75G coverage all over the country, upon closer investigation you'll find that what they have in your city is a vampire type 3G network, its only 3.75G at night.
With all my anger at Comfort and her banker colleagues adequately vented, I now push the send button.
LOL! So true. Can't say much about the banks but in terms of e-banking i think we have a long way to go in Nigeria, in fact i don't see e-banking going anywhere yet.
ReplyDeleteIt contributes to why Nigerians try to fake ID's to get PayPal accounts,
leaving a bad name for Nigeria. But before e-banking can be established well in Nigeria the rate of corruption/cyber-crime must diminish(impossible huh!).
Excellent article, wish all banks could see this_Lol. cheers.