United Bank for Africa, UBA, a Nigerian bank that prides itself as a leading pan-African financial services institution with a global footprint but is
United Bank for Africa, UBA, a Nigerian bank that prides itself as a leading pan-African financial services institution with a global footprint but is unfortunately a cesspool of bad corporate governance, is currently enmeshed in a scandal that is threatening its foundation.
Last month, some contract staff of the bank’s Customer Fulfilment Center (CFC) accused their bosses of harassment, bullying and unethical practices, an accusation that has been reported to the highest echelons of the bank but is being currently swept under the carpet while the leadership of the bank is carrying on as if all is well.
They particularly accused Uzoamaka Onyeka, Head of the UBA CFC, and Oluchi Akaeme, CFC Unbound Unit Manager, of harassment.
On March 28, the staff collectively sent an email titled Lack of acknowledgement and employee welfare, maltreatment and bullying of staff, unsafe working conditions & threat to life, unfair & arbitrary punishments, unrealistic targets and excessive workload, verbal abuse, and hostile leadership, using a moniker, ‘Flourish Adeleke’ to Tony Elumelu, the bank’s chairman, where they detailed the harrowing and vile things they go through in a work space that is supposed to be conducive.
However, rather than investigate the matter, the bank’s management withdraw the server accesses of at least 10 staff members who they suspected of sending the email.
“Contract staff, despite their status, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Unfortunately, this is not the case in CFC, where management engages in outright bullying and threats. Under the leadership of Uzo and Oluchi, the workplace has become a center of bullying, maltreatment, and intimidation, creating an atmosphere of fear and distress among staff, with Akaeme being the main perpetrator. Oluchi routinely bullies and threatens employees. She has openly stated that she will ‘deal with’ staff, warning them that they have ‘seen nothing yet’ just because she does not like them. Uzo goes as far as calling employees derogatory names, including ‘GOATS’, emphasising that they will be treated as such,” the email read in part as can be seen below.
In another separate email sent on Friday, the staff said when their performances drop, the management humiliates them by pasting their pictures and sending them emails branding them ‘Fatal King’, ‘Fatal Queen’, ‘King/Queen of escalations and other derogatory names. They also accused Onyeka and Akaeme of seizing their phones and locking them away in an entire weekend.
“On a particular Saturday, Oluchi and Uzo demanded that everyone submit their phones. After compliance, Oluchi locked them away and left the office, despite not working weekends. Without proper communication, she deprived adults of their phones for an entire weekend. Phones were only returned on Monday, with some employees receiving theirs even later in the week, forcing them to come to the office on their off days just to retrieve them,” they wrote.
Via the email, staff also claimed one Enoch, a security guard, was in the habit of doing routine checks at night and chasing staff home if they were on the premises, even if it was midnight. Copied in this email were Elumelu, Oliver Alawuba; UBA Managing Director, CFC, KPMG and PWC.
Although Ramon Nasir, the bank’s Public Relations Officer reportedly disagreed with some of the said staff claims, he however said that the bank was investigating the matter.
“They come to work and spend two hours doing their work and waste the rest of the time. We installed CCTV and found that some of them poo on the floor, wear slippers to work and do all sorts of things,” he claimed.
A few days after, the management instructed security to screen identity cards of staff to ensure only approved staff were allowed into the building. At least 10 staff members who are long-serving staff who had spent over a year with the company. The management believes they were the ones behind the anonymous email.
According to the contract, termination would occur for probationary staff only after the company had issued them a two-week notice or two weeks’ worth of salary. For confirmed staff, it was one month.
