Amidst Costly Banking Upgrades, Dizzy Customer Services Tarry

By Dayo Farore

Without much ado about much, one who has been a dedicated observer of the nations
banking system since the days of Awolowo may finally feel a little bit safer. Banks of the
federation now has so many applications which protects and enables us transact at the comfort of
our homes as well as several other packages coated in lush deliciousness. Unlike the considered
archaic style of banking in the age of the distressed African Continental Bank (ACB) established
by the nations first president Nnamdi Azikiwe, we now have e-banking, Automated Teller
Machines (ATMs), over-the-air interbank transactions, online payment for desired goods and
services showcased on the World Wide Web amongst the interesting heap of many others. With
these upgrades, many now has the easy access to the much-adored easy life. One may often
wonder if there could be anything else better than apps for our numerous mobile gadgets which
give one access to all the money saved at the bank. A supposed customer care telephone number
which enables a live chat with customer care centres readily available to serve. Then the
conclusion of a reader who has never been to any Nigerian banking hall or have had to
desperately make a quick ATM withdrawal on one of those aching days might be what else can
Nigerians possibly nag about.

For the gazillion fresh graduates annually shoved into the growing battalion of the yet
unemployed ones, First Banks First Academy which equips them for the accuracy, effectiveness

and efficiency required in the banking business has now begun to look like a lifeline. The
graduates whose education was slower than the languishing development in the nations railway
sector can now prove that their longer than anticipated kangaroo education isnt entirely a waste
of time and in return gain employment.

A distant banker friend who is a closer friend to another acquaintance who works at a
reputable law firm in Lagos State, Nigeria once insisted that, with these great banking reforms
in the nation through the involvement of the federal government towards joint empowerment of
microfinance banks in supporting the goals of the people, the citizenry in all works of life should
now feel included in the global monetary policy. So according to this believed learned friend
and many others, the people really have nothing to worry about the revolution in the banking
system except for one major mutilation. And this one major deficiency in the banking system
affects the customers, those who are purportedly the most important parties in the chain.

After queuing for about an hour inside the Zenith Bank branch on Ogunnusi Road in the
Ojodu district of Lagos State on Friday, September 6, 2013, an angry customer gave a deep sigh
and vented to the cashier serving him, you guys really need to do something about this long
annoying queues. I am beginning to hate banks because of them. You go about seeking more
customers when we that are already in are not being satisfied. And the cashiers confusing,
but perhaps problem solving response was, it is not our fault sir, the bank is always very busy.
But since you are one of the power people, please be kind to help us talk to Jim Ovia (Zenith
Banks owner) to hire more cashiers. We sincerely need more hands to assist in reducing the
workload dumped on each of us every workday. Change they say is good, but have you been to

any First Bank branch lately in spite of its First Academy? Cash withdrawal or deposits still
seem to require more time than a lunch break, the same flaw from the yester years.

Without instilling sentiments, a first time visit of an expatriate to most Nigerian banks
may be a startle. From the entrance where so many epileptic ATMs are installed, it would be a
marvel to see so many customers line up to make withdrawals since it is expected to be the
quickest means to cash money. And going inside the banking hall, one may be astonished to find
that it is inside there that the real boredom lies. Besides the habitual fainting banking networks
on the staffs computers, the pandemonium inside is often discouraging. The queues inside are
often longer and even with the seeming eagerness of the cashiers to be more efficient, the
customers still end up affected. But when one decides to make enquiries inside the bank via the
telephone provided in banks like the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), the wait time before an
operator actually picks up can bore a lazy cat. To deeper worsen the plights of the customers,
there are several cases where many tried to make withdrawals from their bank ATMs and though
their cash wasnt dispensed, their accounts get debited for about four times. Trying to make calls
to ones bank in order to lodge complains about received dissatisfactory services has become a
clich which is both disheartening and doesnt look like a problem which will be tended to
anytime soon. So despite the many reforms and Central Bank of Nigerias sledgehammer on the
liquidated banks, it looks like so little is being done to improve customer services in the banking
sector. And except these many customers are willing to reside in the urbanized civilization, but
have their banks in the many remote villages in the federation where banks have no internet and
go to their states capital cities to post deposits as well as no ATMs, it looks like they are bound

to continually burn within about the growing rambunctiousness in banking halls and the
saddening customer services.