My recent misadventures with United Bank for Africa
By Dr. Ola Balogun
It is symptomatic of the on-going collapse of Nigeria’s social, economic, cultural and political structures that our country currently has a record number of banks, churches, mosques, legislators, Governors and political hangers-on, as well as bullshit fake economists controlled by World Bank and IMF imperialist agents, but hardly any industries, factories, good schools, motorable roads or proper medical facilities…
The banks in particular, especially the so-called “new generation” banks that are mostly controlled by a category of greedy criminals who have come to be known as “cowboy bankers”, have turned out to be one of the major sources of the horrendous economic situation in which the people of Nigeria find themselves in today.
While the long-suffering people of Nigeria are being plunged deeper and deeper into unprecedented levels of misery and suffering, the greedy money-obsessed cowboy bankers, their accomplices in the political sphere and their facilitators in the disgraceful clap-trap institution known as the Nigerian Central bank continue to amass huge levels of unprecedented wealth…
A true national disaster!
The worst part of the whole sorry situation is that Nigeria has NO consumer protection safeguards, so all these folks in the banks and other capitalist-oriented commercial bodies and organisations continue to ride roughshod over the public as they please, with the banks imposing all kinds of illegal charges and unauthorized levies on members of the public with the active connivance of their dubious allies and fellow criminals in the so-called Nigerian Central bank.
Unfortunately, most Nigerians are unable or unwilling to stand up and fight for their rights, so the current disastrous situation is likely to continue unabated for a long time to come.
Pity!
In my own case however, I happen to be made of much sterner stuff than the generality of the Nigerian public, hence my decision to come out and expose the unacceptable treatment I have received over the past few days from United Bank for Africa.
I consider that I have every reason to be all the more aggrieved because my current U.B.A. account was opened as a result of the personal insistence of the bank’s current chief executive and supposed majority shareholder, Mr. Anthony Onyemaechi Elumelu, who sent some of his top officials to my residence some years ago bearing all the documents required for opening an account, with a result that the account was opened for me without my ever having to step out of my home…
Since then, I have had a succession of experiences with U.B.A., some good, some not so good, and some totally unacceptable.
To date, I have mostly accepted that in a country without adequate consumer protections, where the public is mostly being held to ransom by unscrupulous and corrupt leaders, there are few chances that the banking institutions will feel obliged to take corrective action when one complains about specific instances of inefficiency or outright malpractice.
My most recent experience with U.B.A. (which I understand to be the general practice among present day Nigerian banks) has however made me angry enough to want to share the details with my fellow citizens.
Here is what has happened to me:
On the afternoon of March 8th 2024, I made a POS payment to a supermarket in Victoria Island Lagos for a total sum of N8,775 (eight thousand seven hundred and seventy five naira).
As often happens these days, the money was withdrawn twice from my account, supposedly as a result of network issues…
Even though I was assured at the time that the excess payment would be reversed into my bank account within 24 hours, a week has now elapsed with no refund being done.
A couple of days ago, I took the matter up with the Manager of a major U.B A. branch, from whom I received the assurance that a manual reversal had been requested in respect of the transaction, but that it would take another week for my account to be credited…
Now this is absolutely scandalous, in comparison with the expedituous manner in which such matters are handled in all the other countries in which I have operated bank accounts in the past, including in small neighbouring Benin Republic.
So what is going on in Nigeria?
Why should a bank like U.B.A. be able to sit with impunity on money belonging to hundreds of thousands of depositors for weeks at a time after money has been mistakenly deducted from depositors’ accounts by U.B.A. itself?
To make matters worse, one learns more and more each day about the scandalously opulent lifestyles of Nigeria’s “cowboy” bankers, who squander money openly on events like so-called “white garment” parties and hedonistic birthday celebrations costing millions of dollars!
Why should this be allowed to continue?
*Dr Ola Balogun is a veteran author, filmmaker and musician who is currently resident in Lagos