‘400,000 Nigerians kick against banks’ arbitrary charges’

The President of the Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON), Mrs Sola Salako, on Tuesday said 400,000 bank users lodged complaints against arbitrary charges by Nigerian banks between June 2016 and December 2016.

Salako stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos. She gave reasons for the “No Banking Day” protest organised by the organisation nationwide. According to the CAFON president, the rate at which bank users are complaining about excessive charges is becoming alarming.

“The protest has become expedient due to constant complain by banks’ customers over excessive charges. “Nigerians are known to be very tolerant. They will not complain about anything until it gets to an unbearable level.

“When it gets to a crescendo and you go online, you see people posting their complaints over excessive bank charges “It (bank charge) has become more alarming and it is because the customers are complaining to us as an NGO that looks at the right things that we thought it time to urge Nigerians to defend their rights.

 “It is not every time you get angry to the point of becoming destructive,’’ she said. Salako alleged that the Bankers’ Committee had been fixing charges without recourse to bank users. She said the committee determined “what is profitable to the banks at the detriment of bank users’’.

 Salako said that the banks further extended their proposal to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for acceptance. She said that the apex bank, some years ago abolished ATM charges as well as COT charges on current account. Salako said that surprisingly, the CBN had brought back all the charges.

 “We now pay for using other banks’ ATMs, Annual Debit Card maintenance charges and other charges,’’ she said. Salako said that there were no noticeable interest rates on savings account.