‘Banking in Nigeria is about power, not service,’ says tech investor, Victor Asemota

The Founder of SwiftaCorp, Victor Asemota, claimed on Sunday businessmen in Nigeria acquired banks for power play.

Asemota’s statement came a few months after businessmen, Femi Otedola and Tunde Hassan-Odukale, fought for the control of Nigeria’s oldest bank, First Bank, with the former eventually securing the majority stake in the lender.

The tech investor had worked as a credit and marketing consultant for banks alongside his uncle in the late 80s.

He also had a brief experience working in a finance house before switching into software and technology where he has been for over two decades.

In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle, Asemota recalled the valuable insights he got from his uncle on banking operations in the country.

READ ALSO: 10 banks account for 87% of banking fraud in Nigeria- NDIC

He opined that banking in Nigeria was always about power and not service.

He wrote: “I keep saying that the reason I decided never to work in banking in Nigeria was that I saw everything from the top too early. I saw one new bank started from scratch and cornered by the wife of the main shareholder. Another was ruined by the main shareholder for no reason at all.

“Banking in Nigeria was always about power and not service. It is why banks remain the way they are and customers suffer. It is why Meffy is doing all he is doing and asking people to come and fight. That is where he came from. Fighting and powerplay, not service.

“The most powerful people in Nigeria always sit around a table. To be on that table, you must have something of value like a bank. They bought the bank and changed everything.”

“This dynamic is in every regulated industry. The regulators favour the most powerful and the most powerful install the regulators. They become a cartel who try to keep people out.”

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