There was disquiet at a branch of an old generation bank in Ladipo part of Mushin, Lagos State penultimate Friday as customers engaged the workers and management in a shouting match over endless waste of their time. The protest had started with murmurs from some of the aggrieved customers until a slim old man walked into the banking hall.
“I need a mat and a pillow to lie down,” he said jokingly as he sauntered round the hall. “I have been here for only God knows hours and it is not yet my turn. I have gone to my house and returned a couple of times and yet the line is not moving,” he added as he raised his voice and gradually fired up the anger in other customers.
Seeing that the management was doing nothing about his predicament and those of other customers in the hall, the old man further raised his voice, this time, issuing a serious threat.
“We will burn down this bank! he threatened. “If you people are not ready to serve the people again, close down the place.
“You keep declaring huge profit but you would not employ workers to serve the customers.
“You have kept old people, pregnant women, children and other vulnerable people standing for hours and there is no chair for us to sit. What kind of exploitation is that? What kind of country is this? I will come here on Monday with newsmen to show the world the inhuman treatment you are subjecting customers to.”
The visibly angry customer’s outburst gave brought out the anger in other agitated customers as they also raised their voices and called the bank and its workers unprintable names.
“Look at the counter, only two of the six seats are occupied with officials attending to customers. Is that proper? Why are they concerned about their profits alone without any feeling for the customers from whom they get the money they trade with and make profit?
“We two have other things to attend to in our places of work and business. I am supposed to go and pick my children from school, but this delay has almost made that impossible.
“Before we entered into the banking hall, we had sat outside, under the tent, for a very long time. Employ more workers and stop being stingy, ” an enraged woman said.
As the situation became more tense, the manager and an armed mobile policeman waded into the matter but the situation was not immediately brought under control.
It took a long time of pleading and persuasion before the angry customers were appeased.
This reporter, who was in the banking hall, left at about 4pm without achieving his mission, to attend to official assignment.
As at the time he was leaving, the number of customers outside the banking hall was more than those in the hall with feelings of frustration, anger and disappointment clearly written on their faces.
Checks revealed that needless waste of customers’ time by banks is widespread and was fast becoming a norm.
A bank customer, who gave his name simply as Mark, said going to transact business in banks has become a nightmare.
“You can spend three to four hours on queue before they will attend to you. There is a bank at Igando area of Alimosho Local Government, when you get there, the security men will lock you outside until there is a space for you to sit under the canopy placed within the premises.
“This is very dangerous because criminals could use the opportunity to attack and dispossess one of his hard earned money. When you luckily enter into bank’s premises, you will begin another round of queuing.
“There was a day I went there to transfer money to somebody. It was not my turn until it was past five, and at that time, there were still so many people behind me. I wrote N250,000 on the teller but when I received the alert which came the following day, it was N200,000 that the lady transferred.
“The pressure on her was too much and she was susceptible to committing blunders. I went to the bank the following day to inform her about it. When she checked and found that it was true, she started apologising to me. I told her not to worry because I saw and knew she was already worn out by that time. Assuming she had mistakenly paid someone above what she was supposed to, what would have happened? You cannot even guarantee that such doesn’t or had not happened before. Something drastic needs to be done about this in the interest of the customers and the banks as well.” A recharge card dealer, Moses, said he feels like going to the bank with not only his mat but also a stove.
“It is sickening that you will go to the bank and end up spending the whole day in the queue.
“It is worse if you are going to make a large deposit in the bulk room. There, you will see one or two bankers attending to a large number of people.
“When they are tired, they will instruct the security men to tell customers to go and make deposits through the ATM machines.
“How do you expect a customer who wants to deposit N500,000 or N1 million to go and do that at the ATM stand? Even when you try to explain to the security men that you are there to deposit huge money, they will tell you that was the order given to them. It is distressing. They are exposing customers to a lot of dangers and discouraging people from using their services.”
Another bank customer, Ogochukwu, said queuing for a long time in banking halls aggravates the pains he experiences in his legs.
“If I have my way, I would never have anything to do with going to banking halls again.
“The long queues always worsen the pains I have in my legs. Unfortunately, there are no more chairs for one to sit in the banking halls.
“You just have to stand for as long as it takes them to attend to you. It is reprehensible.
“Whenever you want to go for a transaction in a bank, don’t just be in a hurry. Prepare your mind to spend the whole day. Must it be like that?”
Over 11, 000 workers sacked in two years asuse of PoS rises
The embattled bank customers’ call for employment of more workers as a solution to the long delays they experience may not be far from the truth.
An average of 18 people were sacked every working day between January and September 2019, according to data made available by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). According to the ‘Selected Banking Sector Data: Sectorial Breakdown of Credit, e-Payment Channels and Staff Strength’ report, 3,582 people were sacked between the first and third quarter of 2019.
There are 195 working days between January and September.
Between the first and second quarter, the staff strength of the banking sector reduced by 653 people and further declined by 2,929 between the second and third quarters.
Contract staff was the worst hit, declining by 3,083 between the second and third quarter.
However, the number of junior staff within the sector increased by 414 from 39,980 to 40,398.
The report covered commercial banks, merchant banks, non-interest banks and deposit money banks.
The ugly development worsened in 2020 with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, revealed that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the number of banking staff dropped by 8,584 to 95,026 as at December 31, 2020 compared to 103,610 which was in the employ of banks in 2019.
A sectoral performance report released by the NBS in December 2020 revealed that the 44,664 contract staff on commercial banks’ payrolls at the turn of the year had been reduced to 39,573 (a decrease of 5,091) as at the end of September.
A total of 2,359 junior workers were similarly axed or resigned, while senior staff, who form 18.5 per cent of the workforce, reduced by 564. The commercial banks, surprisingly, increased their executive staff (who takes home the lion’s share of the personnel costs) from 153 to 210 (an expansion of 37 per cent).
The gap created by the massive sack of bank workers and the attendant challenges appear to have been filled by the proliferation and patronage of Point of Sale (POS) transactions.
Transactions via the medium have continued to rise over the years.
