ATM Fraud?

Hello People,
Happy Holidays to Muslims all over the world.
Ok… I guess I should continue my gist from my last post.


Fortunately, there were two people (a man and a woman) watching my transactions from behind me. Apparently, both of them are staff of the bank. The man works as an Engineer in charge of ATM Machines while the lady works within the branch.

Seeing what happened, the gentleman and lady both tried to assure me that the error would not affect my bank balance. Guess what it did. While they tried to convince me that everything was okay, the machine went off and when it came on, I checked to verify their sayings and just as I thought my account had been debited twenty thousand naira.

At this point, I was upset and requested to see that branch manager. The branch manager was quite decent in her handling of the matter. She initially promised to take it up personally and that the issue would be resolved in 24 hours. After two days of no progress, advised that I contact my bankers and inform and request that they contact her bank to formally lodge the complaint. I have since contacted by bankers and still awaiting their response.

The event happened on the 16th. It’s over a week and no positive response. I must admit that the thought of taking legal action against the owners of the ATM has flooded my mind more than any other thing. If I eventually do take legal actions, it will not be because of the money but because I am convinced that such errors should not be ignored; beyond the immediate, they have far reaching consequences for the owners of the ATM machine.

Touch Down:

The truth is, in the interim, what happened was nothing but a fraud. Period! It is fraudulent for a bank to place a machine that doesn’t work or that shortchanges customers up for use. All through the period I spent within the bank’s premises, there was no signage stating that the ATM machine was faulty and thus should not be used. In fact, I was encouraged to use it again. Therefore, what happened on the 16th of October, 2006 is nothing but a fraud.

Banks and bankers have decided to adopt the excuse that the use of the ATM machine use relatively new in Nigeria and that there are still imperfections. Well, to satisfy those who love to give excuses, I agree. But they also must know that a good thinking bank, customer friendly bank, value driven and responsible bank should have a system that corrects such errors within the shortest possible time and offer some form of compensation to the affected customer.

Our banks cannot continue to hide under the guise of the ATM being relatively new.

If the banking reforms are to be successful, then banks need to step up their game. Intercontinental bank might want to rethink their tag line. I am willing to offer them consultancy services in the areas of customer service and brand management.

I guess at this point, I’ll just wait for them to refund my money (in their own interest) within the shortest possible time.

Strength and Honor

ATM Fraud?

Hi People,

Trust you're all wondering why I haven't posted an article in a while. Truth is, it's been a very busy week. WoW! I'm so happy the weekend is here and much more happier cos it's an extended one. Since it's an extended weekend, I'l do all that I can to make up for the dry spell and ensure that it doesn't occure again. In the mean time, I had a funny experience at an ATM machine on Monday. I needed to make some urgent transactions and didn't have enough time to get to my bank so, I stopped at the nearest bank since the ATM card can be usedin any of Nigeria's 25 banks. Getting there, I slotted in my card, entered my details and the amount I needed (N20,000) but to my amazement, the machine gave me N1,000.00 only. I was stunnded. What do I do next? Is there someone I can report this to? Will they believe my claims?

I will give you the full gist in my post. Have a blessed weekend.

Strength and Honor

Give that idea a chance

Hello You,

I trust you are having a great day and staying on top of situations around you.

You know, not many people live to fulfill their dreams simply for the fear of failing or being rejected. This is quite pitiful.
May be for change, you could look each idea that comes to your mind as a gift-child from God. Every gift however little, should be cherished. Every child should be cared for.

Imagine your idea, that gift-child not having the opportunity to call you daddy or mommy. Imagine that idea, that gift child not having the chance to crawl, walk, run and eventually fly. Imagine missing the opportunity to watch your brain child grow.

Just as every child deserves a chance to life, so does your idea deserve a chance to see the light of day.

But what if that idea or gift-child is given a chance to life and then turns out to be problematic? My answer is very simple. The wise man said ‘train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ Strange? It shouldn’t be.

Train your idea, your gift-child in the way it should go. How? Speak to it. Mediate on it. (See my post on meditation or Deolu’s post on meditation).

You are an intelligent being; a product of God’s intelligence. Everything that comes out of you has intelligence. Your idea is only an extension of who are.

Now, you’re wishing you knew this long ago and may be thinking it’s too late. No, it’s not too late. I don’t believe in too late. If it was recorded that some dead men came back to life, then what’s stopping your dream from coming back to life? Nothing.

Truth is, even if you failed in the past, you deserve a second chance. Ok now you say you had a second chance and blew it. Then you deserve a third, forth, fifth, sixth….chance.

The successful man is not he who doesn’t fail but he who against all odds accomplished his goal.

It may have been said that there is a certainty of death or failure and only half a chance of survival or success. Take that half chance. You may be surprised to find out that all you need is half a chance for survival.

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you’ll be doomed it you don’t try.

Touch Down:

I’ll touch down with words from a text message I received from a friend some months back. She said..

“Cherish your vision and your ideas. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart; the beauty that comes from your mind; the loveliness that occupies your purest thought, for in them lies your greatness.” Thanks Ruth.

Strength and Honor.

Stand Alone

Alright Guys, this might turn out to be a long one but I'm sure you will enjoy it.

I had a flash back to a day I was out of town and was determined to return to Lagos in good time. I had woken up early enough to catch the first fight out of Abuja but to my surprise, flight had been canceled through out the week due to bad weather. For a minute, I was thrown off balance but my resolve to return to Lagos would not permit me to stay a day longer in Abuja. There was so much I had to get done.

I thought of the next option and that was traveling by road. This means a trip that would have lasted about an hour would now last for seven hours. Hey...I had to do what I had to do. Off I was to a registered and travel company. I quietly joined the queue to purchase my ticket after which we were checked into a luxurious bus by the company’s security.

We departed.

While on the bus, I thought of the safety of land travel and the menace of armed robbers. As my thoughts filtered in, I noticed that the bus ran at a ridiculously slow pace and eventually stopped. I was waiting to hear the driver give an explanation but the man with tribal slashes said nothing. Instead, he peeped out through his side window and spoke to some men who apparently wanted to get aboard the bus.

At this point, I’m thinking ‘…what in the world is this guy trying to do? What if these men are robbers?’ One of the reasons I chose to travel with the bus company was that they guaranteed safety and comfort. That was why I paid more than twice the fee a public bus would have charged.

Now, my rights were being infringed and my life and those of other passengers were about to be exposed to great risk.

At this point, the driver had concluded negotiations with the men, collected some money and was about to open the door. To top it up, not a word was said by anybody. Was I pissed? May be I was but also smart enough to display some restraint. But was I going to let this guy put my life at risk while I kept quiet with my arms folded for fear of being ridiculed if I spoke against such an irresponsible act? No! No! No!

I got off my seat and approached the driver. Not sure if he had his head screwed on, I decided to be polite. I took a quick look behind me and there were the other passengers seemingly unmoved by what was going on. Then it occurred to me that I was ‘standing alone.’

‘Excuse me’. I said in a very firm but polite way. What is going on? This bus has been parked for more than five minutes.’ The man turned and looked at me and replied in a very repulsive manner ‘I wan carry passenger.’ I replied, ‘but this is not a registered motor park. Besides, the manifest was signed at your terminal with the passengers checked in by security. It will be wrong of you to pick up more passengers.’ I further stated that such an act would be a bridge of contract. This guy flared up and was ready for a fight. Sensing the danger, I softened my voice and tactically calmed him down but I stood my ground.

Bearing in mind that we were in the middle of no where without GSM network, I was tempted to chicken out but the warrior in me said NO!!! I looked the man straight in the eye and shouted at him, ‘No! Those men will not board this bus. Your company assured us that no other passenger would be picked along the way.’ The driver’s eyes were spitting fire and so were mine. I stood my ground. Yes o! I did.

At this point the other passenger got involved but to my amazement, most of them supported the driver and accused me of stopping the driver from making extra cash. I got particularly interested in addressing a teenage girl who supported the driver. In fact she talked the loudest. I asked her if she had never heard of people who got robbed, rapped and killed by armed robber pretending to be passengers and that the men wanting to board the bus might just be members of a gang? She quiet sat back in her place and bowed her head.

I was gaining ground.

Now back to the driver. I insisted that we would proceed on the journey without ‘attachment.’ Surprisingly, this guy kept quiet, wore a sober look, returned the money to the men and we proceeded.

Wow! I won! What if I didn’t stand my ground? What is those men where robbers? What if I had denied my sense of value in the face of staggering opposition? Then, I would have failed to stand for what is right and probably not be here to tell this story.

Touch Down:

As daunting as the challenge may be, stand for what you believe is right even if you stand alone

Make That Change

Hi Guys,

Its 11:45am on the third day of my two weeks leave. Though I have had to struggle with changes to my schedule, I am now settled with the fact that its time to take some rest. Some rest? Yes! Some rest. I guess we never can quantify how much energy we expend when we get out of bed as early as 4.30 am to leave home an hour afterwards all in a bid to beat traffic and get to work before 7am and get back home by 8.30 or 9pm. Phweeh! It’s great to be on holiday. Guess we all we need a holiday. Don’t we all?

One thing I do appreciate about my holiday is the fact that it affords me the time to make changes in certain departments of my life and wellbeing.

Things that once looked ‘okay’ and ‘acceptable’ no longer fit in. It’s time to make some good changes and I did.

I have restructured my finances so that I can have enough to save, invest, exponentially multiply and share.

I have looked into my wardrobe. I gave out the old clothes and replaced them with new ones. That felt good. But cost me a lot too.

I have spent time doing those little but special things I love to do…like spending time with close friends, going to see the movies and maybe date. Date? Yes, date? I had a date on Independence Day after a longlong while and it was cool. Hey..it’s not like anything has happened. I'm still single and will only mingle with the right person.

Most importantly, I have redefined my priorities, drafted new agendas and designed roadmaps to reach them.

The beautiful thing about all these changes is not that I have changed or that I am a changed person but that I am perfected in who I really am.

Life is a journey. We can’t afford to travel in just one vehicle.

Sometimes, our journey may require us to cross an ocean; so we get on a boat and cross it.

We might need to fly over territories; so we get on an aeroplane and fly over.

And when we need to cruise round an island, we get in a luxury car and just cruise.

I have used my example. Hope you learnt from it.

You may want to look into your life and identify areas that need urgent change. What are those things that can no longer be left as they are? It might be time for you to change your thinking. It might be time for you to change your clothing. It might be time for you to change your eating habit or your company of friends.

Whatever it is, just make that change.

Strength and Honour

Hellooooooo!

Happy Independence Day Nigerians!!!!!! Nigeria is 46 years today. Wow!!! It calls for some celebration.

You may ask what is there to celebrate. Why should we celebrate knowing that there are still a lot of things that have been left unattended to? Why should be celebrate when a large percentage of Nigerians still leave below the poverty line?

Well, I've got news for you. We should celebrate our unity. Nigeria's unity has been threatened several times but to God be the glory the nation has remained an indivisible entity.

We should celebrate our nascent democracy. It took a hard fight to get it. We now have it. However shaky it may to be, it's worth celebrating.

Have you thought about the fact that power supply has been quite stable? We should celebrate that also.

Have you thought about the number of Foreign Direct Investment that has come into this country (new businesses are being born and consequently more jobs created? We should celebrate that also.

Have you thought also about the educational system and how for a little over a year, lecturers have not downed their tools? We should celebrate that also.

Have you thought about the peace we have been privileged to enjoy? If you think peace isn’t worth celebrating, then please takes a trip to Dafur, Congo D.R, Burundi and other war ravaged countries and tell me if you'd prefer to leave there.

Truth is, Nigeria may not be all we want it to be but it's what we have. Let's celebrate it.

If you are a youth, the best time to be a Nigerian Youth is now! If you are an adult the best time to be a Nigerian adult is now!

For the Nigerian youth, the future style of Nigeria is in you hands and mouth; there is a lot to look forward to (improved quality of life, improved road networks, improved education, improved health care services, and improved transportation on land, sea, air and underground).

For the Nigerian adult, remember that posterity will question your actions today; lead the youths aright. Be responsible. Contribute your own quota to national development.

Our Nation; Our Heritage.

Don't forget you national flag and what it symbolizes. Don't forget the Nigerian National Anthem and the power behind it. Don't forget the National Pledge and the sense of commitment it drives into you.

Fellow Nigerians, the time for true expression is now. it's time to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities around us. Now is the time; more than even to truly make a change. What's most important? It's time to make an impact.

God bless you. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Strength and Honor.