Agnes worked in the Marketing unit of a popular Commercial bank and was given a N500m target in 2015. Coincidentally, that was the same year she was to wed, so she was caught in a web of Confusion as she ran around for two important projects.
One of the projects was the struggle to meet her target and retain her job and the other, a nice wedding to fulfil a lifetime dream.
The lady weeps every morning, for several reasons including how to maintain a tough balance; dodging men’s laps while squeezing some deposits off them, yet remaining faithful to her fiancee.
When she spoke with Saturday Sun on phone a few days ago, she had this to say: “I’m on probation at work as I speak with you because I didn’t meet my target and the marriage didn’t work. That’s even the worst thing. My fiancee complained bitterly that I never had time for him even during weekends. This is because I must chase one depositor or the other and when they fix weekend appointments, who am I to reject them? I’m the first of six children and the breadwinner of the family after the death of my father and a poor mum. I tried my best. Some men would even insult you.”
On the frequent demand for sex by prospective depositors, she said “Imagine a man demanding to sleep with you as the only condition before obliging your request to open an account with your bank as if the money is mine. The bank even told me to resign about two weeks before my fiancee ended our relationship. Women are endangered species in Nigeria and I really don’t know when this would end.”
Unfortunately, that is Nigeria’s version of 21st century banking where the traditional banking ideals have been overtaken by insatiable appetite for deposits which has also put immense pressure on staff, especially the women; who are now largely seen as corporate prostitutes.
Until the fall of the 1990s, the dream of several young school leavers was to work in the banks since the oil sector was seen as the exclusive preserve of influential Nigerians.
In those days, an average graduate undergoing the mandatory National Youth Service saw banks as good place to work and even as they prepare toward writing the necessary examinations that would land them the plum job.
The attractions then, which included fat salaries, housing/furniture loans and free medical care made the bank jobs almost irresistible. Bankers too knew how to flaunt their jobs through their well-tailored suits, shining shoes and trendy cars which made them the envy of many.
Today, after over 10 years, the glamour seems to be fading slowly leaving many of them to ask, what went wrong? Experts and ex-bankers heap the blame on a lot of factors including dwindling economy, casualisation, desperate search for deposits, unhealthy competition among the banks, army of jobless youths among others.
However, one of the reasons the banking profession appear to have lost its glamour according to some experts is the numerous abuses that some managers have brought into the practise.
Ogbonnaya Nwosu, a former bank executive blamed the declining status of the industry on the emergence of new generation banks in the 90s which according to him, changed the banking landscape.
“A bank like Standard Trust, now UBA was a game changer. It was one of the new generation banks that brought some new innovations into the sector but changed a lot of things also. The traditional ones like Union Bank, First Bank, Bank of the North and all that, were not as aggressive as the new generation banks in terms of their desperation for deposits.
“The old first generation banks maintain the sanctity of banking unlike their new generation counterparts’ insatiable appetite for deposits which has since reduced bankers to corporate beggars.
It’s no longer news that female marketers are now veiled prostitutes who hustle everywhere in search of deposits, some are now given condoms by their banks to hustle for customers by any means. Many marriages have been destroyed as the new generation banks have changed everything.
When Saturday SUN visited the electronic section at the popular Alaba International Market in Lagos last Friday, three female bankers from one of the new generation banks were spotted dancing skelewu before an importer, all in a bid to make him open an account with their bank. One of them who identified herself as Rose told Saturday Sun that dancing for the importer and his boys was much easier than being harassed sexually.
“My brother, this bank work is something you’ll do because there is no job out there anymore. Every man wants to sleep with you before giving you as little as N10,000 deposit. No man wants to deal with you decently and professionally. It’s that bad. If you refuse, a thousand and one girls are ready to take such deposit because in today’s banking, every kobo counts. The bank management knew there are thousands of jobless graduates and it’s soldier go, soldier come thing”, she lamented.
Casualisation
Another worrisome trend that has made banking profession lose its attraction is the degrading practicecalled casualisation.
According to Remi Oladunjoye, a banker with one of the newly-merged banks, most of the staffers in the banking halls and some other units are contract/casual workers as some banks don’t want their workers unionised under any guise.
“These bank managements prefer National Diploma holders to university degree holders.They register firms for consultancy services and outsource some jobs to them.
These guys now bring in ND holders as casual staffers. Only some intakes with University degrees are staffed. So, the two categories of staffers have different career paths and as such different pay packets. Banks prefer the ND holders or casual staff because they are cheaper for them to pay. They are not entitled to a lot of things and they are okay for the banks since there are no jobs out there. So, with a good number of staff being contract workers, and earning slashed emoluments, the allure of job is gone”, he said.
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