It happened in one of the Abuja branches of one of Nigeria’stop five
banks. That Saturday morning, a male staff had entered the ATM room to
load money into the machine and locked himself as required by standard
operational procedure. But when minutes rolled into hours, and the staff
refused to emerge from the room, colleagues began to suspect something
was wrong.
This was confirmed when there was no response to
persistent knocking and banging on the door of the ATM room. By the time
the door was forced open they found the lifeless body of their
colleague on the floor of the ATM room.
The deceased bank staff
was an “ATM Custodian”. ATM custodian have responsibility to monitor
ATMs in their branch or branches in the same locality. They must
replenish cash into the ATMs, and address any incidence of ATM
breakdown. Their jobs are very critical at ensuring that customers have
access to their cash seven days every week.
But this bank, like
some other banks took things to the extreme. As at the time the deceased
staff was working, ATM custodians in the bank worked round the clock,
from Monday to Sunday. On weekends, they had to resume by 6.30am in the
morning and closed around 7pm. As a result, there was virtually no day
to rest . But the management of the banks were either oblivious of this
fact or they chose to ignore it.
By the time another ATM
custodian slumped and died in a Lagos branch of the same bank, there
were increasing reports of serious health breakdown among ATM custodians
in the bank. The bank was compelled to review the working schedule of
its ATM custodians. Now they rotate weekend shifts, meaning each
custodian works two weekends (Saturday-Sunday) in a month.
This
however reveals how banks in Nigeria sacrifice human lives in order to
generate income. It is the same principle that drives people who shed
human blood to make money.
Apart from the wicked work schedule
for ATM custodians operated by some banks, others have working hours
that is hostile to women, especially their God given role as mothers. In
order to maintain the high paying banking jobs, some female bank staff
abandon one month old babies to the uncertain care of
house-helps/nannies and unregulated day cares.
There was the case
of a female bank staff that lost her one year old second child, who
accidentally, drowned herself in a bowl of water, while the house-help
was busy watching television with the first child in the living room.
However, it must be noted that not all the banks operate a system that
demands sacrifice of human lives to generate income. For example most of
the banks have stopped weekend banking, or reduced it to the barest
minimum, due to recognition of its impact of families and long term
productivity of staff. Also some banks have created crèches in their
offices that allow nursing mothers to keep their babies within reach and
under day care.
