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
