Aigbogun Aig-Imokuede: Vistas of a Lecherous Vampire Banker
He is called Aigbogun, Aig-Imokuede but his close aides and associates have given him the sonorous unflattering sobriquet of 'God's Banker'. His c ritics describe him as erratic, unpredictable and sometimes mentally unsteady. He is a chronic womanizer and skirt-
chaser who has transformed Access Bank into a prostitution ring where female employees have been reduced to sex objects at the service of the bank. He is also known to have hot pants and an uncontrollable libido which makes him lascivious and lecherous as a hee-goat.
Banking sources tell Huhuonline.com that there has been a lot of concern lately, about the plight of Access bank employees, particularly female workers amid widespread allegations that under Aig-Imokuede's watch, young ladies in Access bank are engaged in disguised prostitution, using indecent exposure, sexual inducement and other unethical means to woo customers to Access bank. Aig-Imokuede is said to have ordered a review of Access bank's employment policy to make sure that priority is given to 'female bankers', who on the strength of their body appeal end up at the marketing department.
For a man who boasts about his very strong anti-union credentials, Aig-Imokuede has introduced anti-labor practices in Access bank, which include the undue harassment bank staff particularly those in the marketing department and the deliberate employment of young girls who are sent into the market to hunt for deposits. Aig-Imokuede even insists that condoms be distributed to his female staff whenever they are sent on assignments! Access bank female staff, close sources told Huhuonline.com are warned against getting married, and advised not to have children except with the express permission of the bank MD/CEO, Aig-Imokuede. As a matter of policy, Access bank staff are not allowed to join unions in the industry.
A CBN source told Huhuonline.com that facing stiff competition, Aig-Imokuede is obsessed with sourcing bank deposits from the public by any means possible. Documents obtained from the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) by Huhuonline.com show that Skye Bank reported the highest growth of 20% in loans and advances in 2010, compared to previous year; Access Bank came second with 12%, followed by First Bank with 5.5%; Zenith, 2.0%; and UBA, 1.3%. The success of Access Bank is thanks to the many tactics of inducement adopted by Aig-Imokuede. In effect Access bank halls have become mini disco halls and fashion houses.
Aig-Imokuede's Mercedes is bigger than yours!!!
Aig-Imokuede has engaged in an ego contest with other bank chiefs. His modus operandi at Access Bank and his actions are conditioned by a "My-Mercedes-is-bigger-than yours" mentality. All of a sudden Access Bank no longer wants to be Nigerian bank. It wants to be among the biggest banks in Africa if not the world. To which end, Aig-Imokuede thinks it is also fashionable to open offshore branches and to lay claim to being international, he boasts about Access Bank being an affiliate of bigger banks in the world.
Impossible targets are set for the staff in the marketing department; marketing has become perhaps the most important function in Access Bank. Aig-Imokuede has also come up with what he calls relationship management. The targets that are set have more or less no limits. Once a banker meets a particular limit, a higher target is set. And so Access Bank has created a set of schizophrenics and terrorists of sorts. Aig-Imokuede sends his staff onto the streets to go and get customers "by any means". University graduates wearing funny Access Bank T-shirts run after you and pester you with subscription forms. You are asked to open accounts, to deposit money, to help look for other depositors. Access Bank staff go to bed thinking of deposits, dream deposits and wake up every day to chase deposits.
This evil and vaulting ambition of Aig-Imokuede can be seen in his current obsession with sourcing deposits, and the cut-throat competition he has launched against the other banks. The situation in Access Bank is so bad it is beginning to look like a form of madness. Aig-Imokuede routinely orders Access Bank staff to go onto the streets to dance and entertain the public as a way of raising awareness about its services. If you don't know how to dance or how to solicit for deposits like beggars on the streets, you lose your job! In Access Bank, everybody is asked to bring deposits, including drivers and messengers, and Aig-Imokuede's secretary. You don't have to be a banker, just bring money to the bank; introduce a customer.
The management of Access Bank is also destroying family life. Several Access Bank staff, who elected anonymity for obvious reasons, painted pictures that expose the hellacious ordeal of female bankers who are coerced into engaging in shameful dehumanizing sexual escapades in a desperate effort to meet unrealistic goals and expectations set for them by the unscrupulous, heartless and mean-spirited Aig-Imokuede. Bank staff are made to work long hours, closing late in the evening and work on weekends. Aig-Imokuede has categorically told female bankers in Access Bank that they cannot have children as often as they want, and should any one of them choose to make babies instead of serving the bank, she may not be promoted at the same pace as her colleagues.
Three phrases rule Aig-Imokuede's banking world, one: deposit/target, two: warning letter or suspension and three: termination of appointment.
These are the kind of allegations that the CBN should investigate and make an example out of Access Bank and Aig-Imokuede. The Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN) and the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) should stop banks from sending their staff onto the streets to dance and entertain prospective shareholders. Access Bank must also be told to set realistic targets for their marketing staff (if they must set targets), design other performance measurement benchmarks, and concentrate more on raising the quality of their service: the surest way to build customer confidence. The present Gestapo tactics by Aig-Imokuede dehumanizes and endangers the lives of Access Bank staff and sabotages the banking profession in Nigeria. The CBN and the CIBN ought to be concerned about this.