Are you harming me or harming yourself? My Open Letter To ... Banks

Section: Graft, Nepotism

As an employed banker you might feel the array of dilemmas and challenges facing Nigeria are not in your scope of vision, that you're a cut above the rest or maybe you're still relishing your escape from nationwide poverty. But let me remind you, or warn you that this disease called destitution is only recovering from your success - in the homes, schools, Universities, streets of the nation where millions of short-changed youths languish about in the hope of attaining relief. But you know such confidence is feeble and myopic.

You know that there are simply not enough industries to tender this burgeoning youth population, your just-about-stable demographic are far from forced redundancy and some of your mates are still awaiting their big break. Yet here we are, adding millions more to a distressed job market.

Lend me your audience

The problems faced by the youth is very much your problem. Remember your children will be there one day, competing with millions of other qualified youngsters, many having waited decades for a chance to showcase their talent. Your children will face such challenges as staving off "possible" employment and becoming an entrepreneur, and deciding whether or not crime pays better than unemployment. Everyday choices of todays youth.

Or should they all become petty traders, with kiosks polluting every nook and cranny of the cosmopolitan? In a last-ditch effort to resist generational poverty?

Or do you think government agencies, parastatals, armed forces, NGOs, conglomerates and traditional agro-industries can bear the weight of our growing young population, expected to eclipse China by 2040?

Have you not heard of, or seen the streching morning queues outside bakeries of disillusioned graduates competing for day pays of ₦2k? Graduates?

Do you honestly believe we are safe from gripping poverty and accompanying crime wave?

I left the United Kingdom and my career as a Network Security Analyst because I foresaw a Nigeria in total ruin. Call me a patriot or a believer, but I must boast of one thing; I have never met a young Nigerian like myself. My genuine commitment to this cause is indescribable. BUILDING a company instead of buying show piece cars and renting hotels so I can be a stalwart, an ambassador of hard work and persistence; an indigenous employer, empowerer!

I do not have the powerful connections, political relatives; cannot offer you shady contracts. But are those qualities requisites of development and nation building?

Many Nigerian youths cant even tell you the astronomic cost of building materials, specialist labor and govt levies; concerns that await them after employment.

How many individuals of my nature have approached you?

No, you'd rather lend your audience to 'men in black' than consider the welfare of the next generation, your childrens generation.

I have bank statements that list my expenditure and financial commitment within the last 1 year; ₦45 million. Sent photos of proof; you sent a banker to meet with me at my venue to confirm. My 1 acre of prime real estate in Lagos as collateral wasn't even enough. I spent more of my own money and thus reduced the asking amount, from ₦40 million to ₦15 million.

If all fails, the current exchange rate is favorable. I can't bare the thought of losing my business so will decide to work off the repayment. These are all practical measures to safeguard your interests. What else do you want?

No, you'd rather ignore such plight and pretend you are living in an economic boom, attending to flamboyant pastors and ignoble civil officials as if they exclusively have the dexterity to understand loan repayment protocols. And yet you complain of non-performing loans...

Do you not see beyond your pay check? Every day of your inaction is a day closer to inevitable gloom and widespread disenfranchisement. We need industries, not charities, not a church for every block, not empty houses used by some politicians to launder billions.

As a banker, the power of industry creation is in your hands. You are the banking institution, you are the policies; the yes and no. And you will hold yourself responsible for the disintegration of the economy. Nigeria only has a handful of billionaires; people that can inject adequate capital expediently, its counterparts have them by the ton. Why? Because their bankers took action, on time, and created industries that bore industries through wealth creating schemes, youth empowering projects. Nigeria has the Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, but it doesn't have the belief.

Our nation is racing towards cataclysmic economic depression and it will forever haunt me if I did nothing.

I apologize if at times I sounded personal, that's just me being me; hurt and demoralized. I hope the day does not come when you will look back at this letter as prophetic and not the intended aerial observation. I am not a beggar, just a concerned citizen.

Thank You.