Public Affairs Analyst

On March 15, 2010, Consumer Protection Council (CPC) held a Consumer Interactive Forum in Abuja. At the forum, Mr. Chris Chukwu, the Deputy Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria who stood in for the CBN Governor said Automatic Teller Machine fraud is among the leading complaints coming to the apex bank. The Director-General, CPC, Mrs. Ify Umenyi also observed that complaints received in CPC on financial services for 2008 and 2009 put ATM complaints second behind non-issuance of share certificate. Really, the soaring incidences of ATM fraud should worry any bank customer. This piece looks at the pros and cons of the ATM revolution in Nigeria. According to an internet source, “the very first ATM in Nigeria was installed by National Cash Registers (NCR) for the defunct Societe Generale Bank Nigeria (SGBN) in 1989”. ATMs are operated via debit and credit cards. There are three variants of these in Nigeria. They are the Standard Card, Verve Ca...

Nigeria is in its 50th year of independence, unfortunately, the country is yet to achieve national integration. Governance is still largely based on primordial sentiments. Ethnicity, tribalism, nepotism, godfatherism, religious inclination and cronyism still play significant roles in who gets what, when and how in Nigeria. These considerations have become a cankerworm that has eaten deep into our national life so much so that even in federal universities, Vice Chancellors are now appointed from the geo-political zones where the institution is located. Thus, there is presently no Yoruba Vice Chancellor in any South East or South-South zones, likewise, no Igbo Vice Chancellor in any of the 19 Northern states. It does not stop there, more than 30 years after the creation of Federal Capital Territory; no Southerner has ever been a substantive Minister of FCT. There are other ministries like Agriculture and Water Resources which are also exclusive preserve of the Northerners. The adopted p...