Bank Officials As Public Enemy

 By Levi Obijiofor

When you hear about economic hardships battering the citizens of a country, you need go no further to search, locate and understand what the experiences might look like. We have the exact situation on the ground in Nigeria. The current cash crunch across the country, impishly engineered by the Central Bank and aided by commercial banks, has paralysed human and business activities in Nigeria and pulverised the welfare of ordinary citizens. This is an unsolicited experience no one in Nigeria would like to relive. 

There are visibly many players in the current game of infamy playing out in the country. At the head of the mischief-makers is Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, closely followed by chief executives of commercial banks, and supported by point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) vendors. They constitute the merchants of evil. They have made life unbearable for ordinary people. More important, the CBN and commercial bank officials must take full responsibility for the current economic instability. Their reputation has been sullied but they do not care about reputation.

If you were a bank customer in Nigeria and were asked to rank the following people and professionals, in terms of unethical conduct and dishonesty, which of them would top your list? 

Would you pick the dishonest and unfeeling bank manager, the corrupt police officer, the strong-willed army/naval/air force officer, the dubious Customs officer, the morally despicable pastor or priest, the heartless lawyer, the unlicensed and unqualified medical doctor, the junk journalist, the crooked construction engineer, the callous nurse/midwife, the licentious and lecherous university teacher, the devious trader or market woman, the mechanistic carpenter, the unprincipled chef, the headline-chasing newspaper editor and publisher, the fraudulent accountant, the histrionic advertising or public relations manager, the coldblooded pickpocket, the penny-pinching and amoral prostitute, or the duplicitous commercial vehicle operator? 

The persons listed above are not exhaustive, but chances are that you might select the pickpocket or prostitute as the vilest, most unethical, most dreadful and most dishonest person. Your choice would have been made based on how these people are perceived in public. Regardless of what happens, the point to keep in mind is that person perception is often far from reality.

When a similar study was conducted in Australia in 1996, the outcome was a rude shock to everyone. The study requested respondents to rank various professions in terms of how they were perceived for ethics, trust and honesty. Surprisingly, newspaper journalists were ranked second from the bottom. That study revealed for the first time a terrible image problem for Australian journalists, despite the essential role they play in their society. In that poll, newspaper journalists were ranked very low – they managed to beat used-car salespersons. 

Follow-up studies have been conducted since that time but the image of Australian journalists has not improved significantly. A study of Australia’s most trusted professions conducted in 2021 showed that doctors were the most trusted, followed by nurses, paramedics, firefighters, scientists, police officers, teachers, pharmacists, pilots and veterinarians. The same study placed journalists second to last (number 29), just one place ahead of politicians who were ranked last at number 30.

In the perception of the Australian public, journalists are still seen as untrustworthy, dishonest and unethical. The underlying message is that Australian journalists are not regarded highly by the public.

Each society places a different value on its institutions. Consider the following. In December 2000, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, regarded as the world’s largest selling newspaper, asked 2,000 people to list the institution they trusted most. The prime minister was ranked last. That said a lot about the extent of confidence the Japanese people placed on their politicians. Imagine the kind of ranking President Muhammadu Buhari and his ministers would receive if that kind of poll was conducted in Nigeria. 

Still in December 2000, a Gallup Opinion Poll conducted in the United States about the most trusted institutions showed that the military were ranked top and television was ranked 14th. 

I do not believe that a similar poll to that conducted in Australia would produce a similar result in Nigeria in terms of the image of newspaper journalists. In Nigeria, the public image of journalists is yet to be tested officially through a public opinion survey. But for bank officials and particularly university lecturers who engage in frequent rounds of sexual harassment of female students, a practice that has become widespread, we do not need such a test because there is unassailable evidence that shows that the battered image of university lecturers and bank officials is a direct outcome of their unethical and dishonest conduct in their professional roles. 

I am reminded of what a recent female graduate of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, said on video while thanking God for her success that was also attributed to the magnetic power of her sexual organ. 

For a very long time, we associated bank managers in Nigeria with honest and ethical conduct. Whenever you wanted to complete an official form (such as public examination form or visa/passport renewal form), you were directed to approach a bank manager or a police officer or a pastor to initial that application form. That requirement was based on the norms that existed and still exist in civilized societies where the bank manager or pastor or police officer represented in real terms an emblem of honesty, faith and good character. 

In Nigeria, the public no longer perceives the bank official as emblematic of honesty, integrity, principles or values. In fact, the bank manager and other bank officials are held in low esteem. They are demonised, derided, and portrayed as the ultimate agents of corruption and everything loathsome in the society. These perceptions are legitimate considering current experiences in which citizens are denied access to the new naira notes that are hoarded by banks, while members of the privileged class are given excess new notes. 

It is evident that bank managers are key players in illegal hoarding or stockpiling of the new naira notes. Investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), along with spot checks conducted by CBN officials have exposed the collusion by banks to deny citizens their right to access their money in the custody of banks. 

Similarly, I do not think university lecturers in Nigeria would stand the test of morality. Some of them see their female students as a kind of collateral or reward they should receive on earth. 

Corruption has eaten deeply into the souls of bank managers in Nigeria. The damage is beyond repair. Nobody can fix the problem. Training and character building based on ethical reorientation will not resuscitate the damaged character profile of despicable bank managers and officials.  

We cannot fight unethical and dishonest practices by bank managers and officials of other financial institutions. They are so deeply soaked in the ocean of corruption. Corruption is widespread in Nigeria, a dysfunctional society in which there is no law and order, a society in which people do things any way they like. In that environment, no one is accountable to anybody. No one is responsible to anyone. It is a country of “anything goes” in which the culture places a higher value on wealth and property acquisition. That is the pull or inducement that attracts bank managers and officials to continue to engage in corrupt practices.

*Dr. Obijiofor is a commentator on public issues