It is no news that the financial institutions in Nigeria stepped on one another for photo op to show the world how much they cared for the nation when they started donating funds beyond millions to the federal and state governments to help combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some even went steps further by actually setting up isolation centres and donating them to government to keep us safe.

Few weeks after these, it looked like the law of diminishing returns are setting in as either some of these banks are sacking staffs or closing down branches.

Access Bank, for instance, in a press release stated that about 75% of its workforce would be laid off. Even though the bank’s media department claimed it was not so.

These posed a serious question of how healthy are these banks? How well do they really care about Nigerians considering their donations to the federal government against COVID-19?

A litmus test of their love and care came when the government lifted lockdown last Monday for the nation to have a sense of relief. The videos returned of the day’s activities were too shameful to behold and our leaders should accept they have failed. See the video below.

The countless crowd that flocked all the banks in Lagos especially was a vital sign all was not well with our banking institutions and most were there as a result of faulty point of sale (POS) machine transactions.

I personally had my share of this act of irresponsibility with Ecobank yesterday. One can imagine my embarrassment after walking up and down the aisle picking essentials to stockup for above an hour only to be told my transactions were declined. Yet, I was debited twice for failed transactions and was informed to have it cleared with my bank! Till now, the funds are yet to be reverted.

According to an opinion by Osho Oluwatosin, this is should be a wake up call to Nigerians and especially our financial institutions to redefine their priorities. They should be more human service oriented than show offs.

See his thoughts below;

Guaranty Trust Bank is one of the leading financial institution in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. The techniques, strategy, and the uniqueness of the bank made it gain lots of lovers few years after its emergence to the industry.
GTBank isn’t just another bank, its CSR always blow the mind of all.
Recently, the bank gave the federal government of Nigeria a whooping N1billion and donated several equipment to battle the pandemic that has struck the world; Covid-19.
For some weeks, there has been total lockdowns in almost all states in Nigeria, but last week, President Muhammadu Buhari eased the lockdown and maintained that social distancing must be strictly adhered to.
All organizations were also given same directives again by several state governments.
On Sunday, GTBank put out a press release which included directives for every person who wanted to visit some of its branch on Monday. Social distancing too was mentioned and well emphasized
However, the result of yesterday’s lockdown ease remained alarming, especially at some branches of Guarantee Trust Bank.
Crowd were seen at the bank’s premises, without the security men doing anything to it. One of the things that can make this virus spread quickly, is social gatherings which the government frowned at.
It’s seriously alarming that a bank, that has been very instrumental in battling this deadly virus, is still the one giving the virus room to flourish.
We can trust GTB with our money, even though there are lots of unexplained hidden charges, but sincerely, with the attitude seen yesterday, GTB can’t be trusted with the health of Nigerians during this period.
It is better to stay home, than going to bank and contract Covid-19.
Also, this is also a call on NCDC to get to the branches where crowd gathered, and ask all the staff there to be isolated or taken to their centres for 14-days, in order to stop the spread of this deadly virus.

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