Nigeria Banks Brandishing Sticks

Most Nigerian   are furious at their banks for several reasons, risky behavior of bankers who have given unsecured huge loans (small customer’s monies) to the Nation’s fat cats and their businesses which have gone belly up, lack of lending to hard working small and medium scale entrepreneurs, non refund of government bails outs to the banks, huge bonuses to the CEOs and lastly the introduction of stamp duties and other sundry charges on their customers.

Banks are fiddling with all kinds of fees and charges to shore up their dwindling resources in a weak economic climate. The TSA and other federal government belt tightening measured have backed the banks into a corner, the customers are left bearing the brunt of the mop up of excess liquidity in the system.

Some consumer rights groups and civil society bodies advocated a no banking day on March 1^st 2016 for consumers to boycott banking  services across the country.

Reports showed that most Nigeria’s did not heed to that call, not because they were happy with the multiple charges banks imposed on them but as a result of the harsh economic climate

The introduction of the stamp duty levy on deposits was one charge too many. The CBN who is the regulator of the sector and indeed the referee to ensure that the banks up hold the best practices has  jettisoned it’s role and become a player in the field and bank customers have been left at the mercy of the bankers.

Consumers need to become more savvy in their dealings with their banks,  as experts predict that banks will continue to experiment with increased fees and charges, boycotting the banks will not force them to change their ways, customers need to compare and contrast the charges and levies of different banks. Most of the big banks charge higher fees for small transactions as it costs them money to maintain these accounts.