Nigeria Content Online

It was not business
as usual yesterday as some banks denied customers entry to their
premises, in accordance with the call to join the three-day warning
strike declared by the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union
Congress.

However, some banks still managed to render some ‘backdoor’ banking services to some customers.

Finbank
headquarters on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos, was a beehive
of activities, with lots of cars belonging to both customers and bank
officials, parked within and outside its premises. The attendants at
the bank said only streamlined services were offered.

“If you go inside,
depending on what transaction you want to do, if it is among the
services they can offer today, then they will attend to you,” a
security official said.

The bank’s
receptionist, however, directed customers to the banking hall, without
streamlining details on what transactions to be carried out.

Bank PHB and Unity
Bank branches on the same street did not allow customers into the
premises, while Spring Bank only allowed those on appointment or what
they called “special cases.”

“Even ATMs are not
easily accessible in some banks. Only some banks allow customers to use
the ATMs inside the banking premises. Some did not even want to know
what services you came for. No access was allowed by some, but some
banks allowed customers to use their ATM services,” said Teniola
Olushola, a customer trying to access ATM services at Bank PHB.

A source at Spring Bank said most banks kept to the demands of the union.

“If not for
anything, for the fear of being attacked. You would hardly find any
bank that opened its doors for free entry of customers. Apart from a
few that offered fragile services, you know, backdoor services, most
banks were officially closed to customers. A lot of things still have
to be done. Work must go on; just that we won’t attend to customers,”
he said.

Sunday Salako,
acting national president, Association of Senior Staff of Banks,
Insurance, and Financial Institutions, said the union has been
monitoring the event and the level of compliance of its members.