By Chinedu J. Ihekwoaba
The high rate of scams in our beloved country, Nigeria, is partly due to the banking sector. Yes, some bankers are the catalysts for most of the things that have got to do with scams in our country.
Some bankers know all these fraudsters and they act as agents for them. Don’t be surprised that these fraudsters don’t even come to banks to finalize their evil ordeals; the bankers do these transactions for them and get a certain percentage based on agreement. They also provide them with vital information on when to come to the bank for security reasons.
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I have had terrible experiences in reputable banks in Nigeria. Being a remote worker, who works as a writer for companies in America and Canada, I get paid in foreign currency through PayPal. Since Nigeria has been disconnected from using the PayPal service, I use the PayPal account of a good friend in America. The only way my friend could transfer the money to me is through the Western Union Money Transfer or Moneygram.
However, I always have problems picking up my money unless I agree to pay the manager and a particular set of staff in the bank. I had an instance where I was picking up 2000 pounds, I was told to agree a sixty to forty percent deal, meaning I will earn sixty percent of the money and the bank will get the remaining forty percent.
I never agreed and the transaction didn’t go through. The manager refused to sign it.
The manager of that bank made references to other scammers who always cooperate with their terms and even get paid without coming into the bank.
She said, ”we help them pick up their money even without having to come here. And they settle us. They always agree to our terms. We also help them by giving some vital information on when to come to the bank so they don’t get busted by the police.”
This says a lot about the bank officials. There’s no smoke without fire. In developed countries, you can’t earn a huge sum of money without giving a detailed account of it. But in Nigeria, bankers look for these so-called ”yahoo-yahoo boys” to bring their evil earned money so they could meet their monthly and yearly targets, given to them, in order to gain promotion and get a salary increment.
Even bankers are the reason why politicians can steal and loot the country’s money. They help their evil acts by helping the politicians hide the huge sum of money and cover up for them. Since Buhari administration has been against corruption, he should look into the banks. Some bankers are the agents of corruption in Nigeria. Most of them are unfaithful and selfish.
They are the reason why Nigeria youths are scammers. I bet if bankers are being thoroughly scrutinized for all transactions in the banks, the rate of corruption would be reduced drastically. The only way the positive change can be made effective by the Buhari administration is to put out capital punishment on the banks. When banks have no room for fraud, then politicians won’t steal the country’s money and ”yahoo-yahoo” boys won’t be really effective. It is time to go to war against the banking sector. Jail every bank official found in any shady deals and seize all his/her acquired properties. We need a scam free Nigeria.
God bless Nigeria.