I have collaborated with a couple of other folks who had been playing with a similar idea. In short I mean business with other like mined people to bring some positive agenda to Nigeria.

I have a social agenda and it would be naive to assume funding will not be key to the effort. This is the reason I am exploring monetising the site to an extent.

Your support (and comment) is therefore welcome.

Twitter: @Nigeriapolls

Regards

My personal experience is that these institutions we complain about are very often headed by quite sensitive folks. The problem is that their lower cadre often let them down either as a consequence of poor training or simply a lack of power or willingness to take the initiative.

Henceforth I’ll name the institutions that sucks with their service. I’ll be looking forward to that project because I’m interested in anything that will move Nigeria forward. While waiting for that, I set up a poll at the forum section just like McNeri requested. Here is the link Outrageous Bank Charges – Which Nigerian Bank Is Innocent? Cheers

Re living in the west, I DO live in 9ja. My point is not so much as to court wahala of the security agencies et al but to say that we should be ready to name and shame services that don’t meet the mark.

My personal experience is that these institutions we complain about are very often headed by quite sensitive folks. The problem is that their lower cadre often let them down either as a consequence of poor training or simply a lack of power or willingness to take the initiative.

Either way, we need to get their attention. This does not mean being militant but a mention online usually concentrates their mind. Believe that.

Also, making a vocal complaint followed by a vote from my purse (no matter its size) helps too.

I recently felt MTN was being clever by half with their silliness and promptly made my point and moved! Imagine paying N10k for internet access which always never seemed to allow me use it up. It always seemed to drop connectivity on thursdays and fridays! I went to see them at their Lagos office, politely told them where to stick their service and drive to Glo. I won’t hesitate to do same to Glo too. These companies generally collude to make Nigerians irate.

My take is that they can see that we are getting less pliant and that’s why they are all in ur face with one promotion after another.

The airlines are just another story!

The politicians just need a more challenging constituency to sharpen their accountability rating. These guys just don’t get it!

All across 9ja, I see things that are easy but made complicated by people who get the “leaders” they deserve. Then we go to one corner and moan about it.

So yes! Let’s get a poll running. I will launch it because I think someone should. Why not?

Maybe we will use it to ask every
sector to gauge itself against the people’s opinion. Every sector!

As I seat at this airport, maybe I will work out how to monetise the idea and still carry out the effective message.

Whatever the case, watch out for it. I will dedicate womail2go-misc@yahoo.co.uk for anyone with ideas for this project.

Regards

Your response virtually underlines my point and fortunately, it is telling enough for me to reply.

The point I was alluding to was that simply making a point of mentioning the name of the errant bank is a better space to occupy in my view in the present day disposition in Nigeria. My purpose was not to dispute your bible, call you names or question your worth. I regret that if the wrong impression was relayed.

I don’t wish to have a long drawn out debate on this at all. The fact that you mentioned GTB at all is a credit to you in my view.

For clarification, I agree that all banks in Nigeria today have issues. Period. However, some are listening if the right noises are made especially in the web space. You occupy such a position. Do not minimise its relevance.

I do some banking with GTB, Zenith, Sterling, Fidelity and have relationships with most of the rest. Sometimes, you want to wring their necks. But WEMA has just released a fab product with their hybrid savings account which has a cheque book and has interest added with zero COT! Now that is listening! Zenith never has foreign currency to sell and UBA can at best be described as suave cowboys. Diamond bank can be very unserious (6 months to resolve an internet banking query)…..AND still get it wrong. The list goes on…but I would name them. period.

Going through you reply to me is a roundabout way of buttressing my first post: name them cos that is the only way they will realise they have customers who have a voice and willing to use it.

Regards

For your information, I have been relating with Nigerian banks for about two decades now, I am yet to see one without serious flaws. It may interest you to know that after that post, which was written when I was quite upset, I have gone round and I was utterly disappointed.

Even the GTB recommended to me had serious flaws which I discovered during my transactions with them. That doesn’t mean I should write a post discrediting them. They have their flaws, but then, many Nigerians will swear that GTB is the best bank in Nigeria. However, my personal experience has not proved them to be the most competent. It took one of their staff several weeks to carry out a task that should be accomplished in less than 48hours. I had to call a former schoolmate to intervene before I got the kind of response I should have been given in the first instance.

Did I run away afterward, no! I have remained a customer to GTB despite that unpleasant experience because I came to understand that in the Nigerian banking industry presently, it seems that the devil you have identified and have learned to cope with is far better than a spirit that is yet to be identified!

My refusal to name my banker that got me upset is not borne out of cowardice as you are apt to belief, rather it is based on my personal philosophy. I sing the praises of those who do me a good turn and quietly walk away from those who hurt me. I’ve had terrible experience from two web hosting company, if you check my archive, I wrote about them. But I refused to name names. Instead of discrediting them publicly, I wrote personal emails to them detailing my grievance and politely severed my business relationship with them. One of the web-hosting company was foreign, while the other is a Nigerian web-hosting company.

Since I did not set out to review the services of the offending bank, whereby I can do a fair post disclosing their strengths and weaknesses I am not convinced I need to name them. I still bank with the same bank, but I have learned not to do certain transactions with them. Take it from me, each of the Nigerian banks have their flaws.

My advice for my fellow Nigerian entrepreneurs is to double check before doing business with any banker. Ask questions and insist they disclose all the hidden charges and put them in writing. Never believe all that the marketing officers tell you. Often, their sales pitch is far from the reality you will meet when you eventually strike a deal with the bank. Demand to speak with a higher officer who should tell you about the small prints hidden to severe as loophole in the contract you are being made to sign. I am talking from experience.

Last year, I had a terrible experience whereby interest charges on a lease facility was changed midway. When I protested, I was told that the offer letter did not state categorically that the bank cannot review the interest rate upward! It took my boss threatening to terminate business relationship with that particular bank before they reviewed the interest rate downward. That was a lesson I can never forget!

Oops, I’m almost writing a thesis. I’ve got to stop. I know I’m a star that will continue to shine brighter and brighter, not because anyone feel so, but because my bible say so. This blog is not sufficient for anyone to determine my worth!
You are welcome to visit my blog at anytime. But if you consider my work junk, then I wish you success in your online adventures. Cheers.

I do however take a very different view of your reluctance to name and shame the errant bank. In my opinion, that singular action (or inaction as the case may be) totally invalidates your relevance as a site to me.

Surely you should recognise the signs of the times we live in in 9ja that people want to see a positive change – including identifying the negative and rooting it out of the system. People want (and deserve)authenticate leaders (and mouth pieces) not ones masquerading as such to fulfill their self serving interests.

It is important to note that sometimes, these masqueraders may not be aware they are being selfish or may not intend to be so. It just happens that the true character of a person shows when the chips are down. That is when you know the brave from the not-so-brave-after-all.

Your comments and or intentions to move banks following the outrageous charges obviously suggests that there is nothing to lose letting your readers see the light so to speak. So why hold back the name of the bank from your readers? Why even bother to comment about it? Do you not care that some of your readers may even this moment be considering using the errant bank? Would you prefer that they found out themselves the hard way? How else would the errant bank know the gravity of its actions if you don’t name them for all to see? What exactly is your point with your write up then if not just to be a vacant blog? Why bother? You see, I am as confused as irate.

It beggars belief that your site would comment on errant behaviour but you as a promoter of a site ducks out of mentioning the name of the bank you have vent your anger about in a write up.

After all if you could be wise enough to consider GTB (which incidentally was REFERRED to you by someone else), why not reciprocate by offering your CANDID opinion about another bank that has got its policies wrong? In a carefully worded commentary, there cannot be a successful ligation against you.

I am sorry that whereas at first, I had started going through this site with interest, the current experience has left me wanting more.

You must be an intelligent guy with obvously above par internet/web savvy. You could differentiate yourself further with guts and a bit more oomph rather than relegate your site to yet another dump for the many gripes of the average Nigerian: a lot of comment, not action. Action in this case includes the guts to call a spade a spade (and not a “earth moving hand-held implement).

Then again, I have said my piece and that is that. Maybe I will visit again….just to see if you are a star or just another twinkle.

Thanks