CONSUMERISM is a modern movement for
the
protection of the consumer against useless,
inferior, or dangerous
products, misleading advertising,
unfair pricing,unaware deduction etc.
As a marketer, in a simplest form,
consumerism is the protection of cosumer's
right.
Watch out!......
[(CAFON)- NO BANKING DAY]
Ooops!. I make mention of No banking day.
Yes, i do. According to salako,No banking
day is a consumer protest against
excessive bank charges which a lot of
people are experiencing and they are
complaining about. In addition, she said "I
don’t make money for doing nothing, so
why
should the banks be making money for
doing nothing. That’s not fair". At a press
briefing in Lagos, sola salako (The president
of CONSUMER ADVOCACY FOUNDATION OF NIGERIA- CAFON); and some human rights
activists urged consumers to avoid all forms
of banking services nationwide for one day.
She said the plan was to persuade bank
customers to protest against the unbridled
charges, which various banks are using to
short changed them. I could remember
vividly the recent total estimated banks
profit after tax in 2015 is
N878.67billion while total assets hits
N47.17trillion in 2015.
CAFON and the Coalition of Nigerian
Consumer Protection Associations have set
aside Tuesday, March 1, 2016 as
No Banking Day. They urge all banking
customer and public neither to visit banks,
Authomated teller machine nor perform e-
banking on the expected day.
Punch newspaper reports that according to
the groups,
on that day, customers have been asked to
boycott all forms of banking activities and banks.
This action is basically a form of protest
against the charges introduced by the
Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Speaking to newsmen, CAFON boss said “For
many years now,
customers of banking services have
endured excessive charges, unexplainable
fees and unfair contracts that only protect
the banks but do not protect the consumers.
Banks debit customers’ accounts at will for
charges we never agreed to or were not
aware of; they charge us for everything;
some banks
are charging N210 for the use of deposit
and transfer forms in their branches!”
The charges, in no particular order via radio
station today
include the maintenance fees, which some
banks are now charging monthly on current
accounts and Value Added
Tax (VAT) on virtually every transaction by
customers, including SMS. There are also
charges for transfers both
online and over the counter, remote-on- us
(charges incurred for using other banks’
ATM in withdrawing money more
than three times in a month) as well as the
recently introduced stamp duties
charge.
Adding that “Thousands of customers have
been victims of ATM fraud because the
banking industry failed in its duty of
educating and informing consumers of the
inherent dangers in online banking at
commencement.
“These incessant multiple charges are even
more prevalent on loan accounts, while
many banks have also taken advantage of
the CBN’s
fluctuating forex policy to charge customers
exchange rates that far exceed the CBN rates
without even notifying the customers of the
rates before the transactions.”
The group also frowned at the practise
where the CBN changes policies, without
notifying Nigerians.
Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in
January
2016, instructed all deposit banks and
financial institutions operating in the
country to place a N50 charge on every bank
deposit
of N1,000 and above. Thou, this is in line
with the Stamp Duties Act and Federal
Government Financial Regulations 2009.
This is unfair and injustice and equitable to
my fellow student and young teenagers,
infact low income earners. For instance “A
student who receives an allowance of N2,000 pays the same amount as a rich man
who receives a deposit of N10m! So, the
student is
technically paying more taxes than the rich
man. You may wandering why i'm so
nervous to the anticipated protest. I'm a
marketer, therefore we work "towards
consumers satisfaction"
Thousands of consumers have been victims
of ATM fraud because the banking industry
failed in its duty of care to educate and
inform consumers of the inherent dangers
in Online
Banking at commencement. Some
consumers are still unable to access their
deposits due to
botched BVN registrations because the
banks did not take time to properly educate
consumers on the process before
implementation.
According to salako “Our Demands are: We
want bank
charges reviewed downwards; banks must
clear fees with consumers before debiting
our accounts; bank forms and
contracts must be reviewed to include more
protection for consumers; consumer
complaints must be resolved promptly and
satisfactorily; CBN must review the new
Stamp Duty Charge,
Account Maintenance Charge and Debit Card
Maintenance Fee
Ajisam is pleading to all Nigerian banks
users to please ignore all transaction on
march 1st 2016 till the next day. The intent
of no banking day is to negatively affect the
profitability of Nigerian banks if they fail to
oblidge to the demand before the expected
day, so as to feel "the effect of customers
satisfaction in Nigerian banking sectors" for
a single day.
