UBA Scandal… And What It Teaches Us!
Credit: UBA Bank Group
Every time a story like the UBA ₦150 million “ghost withdrawal” surfaces, it chips away at something deeper than naira and kobo – our collective credibility as a society.
If you missed the article, here’s the summary: A customer of United Bank for Africa (UBA) reported a mysterious and unauthorized withdrawal of ₦150 million from his account over a period of time, routed through multiple corporate accounts. UBA initially stayed silent. Only after the story gained traction online did the bank reportedly refund ₦106 million, without a public statement, accountability measures, or a clear plan to prevent future occurrences. The victim announced the refund, not the institution.
Let’s be clear: this post isn’t about bashing UBA. It’s about the ecosystem we’ve built or failed to build, which allows these things to happen in silence and without accountability.
Trust is the Real Currency
With over 3.6 million people that JAPA’ed in 2022-2023, the possibilities that this future pool of investors represents for Nigeria are staggering in housing, transportation, healthcare, education, etc. And Nigeria desperately needs investment. We talk about boosting foreign direct investment, increasing FX inflows, and courting our diaspora to bring their capital, knowledge, and networks back home. Yet, how do we inspire confidence in a system where even your bank account isn’t safe and silence, not transparency, is the go-to corporate strategy?
Every year, Nigerians in the diaspora remit over $20 billion to the country – a figure higher than oil revenues in some years. We urge them to “look homeward,” to believe in Nigeria again. But how do they believe when institutions at home are so poorly governed and showcase poor systems of protecting the investments of Nigerians?
The Problem is Bigger Than the Government
We often talk about corruption as if it lives only in Aso Rock or the State Government House. But stories like this show that corruption is also woven into our everyday systems; into how corporations handle scandals, how citizens exploit loopholes, and how institutions dodge accountability. It isn’t just about politicians. It’s about all of us.
This particular case is not just a failure of cybersecurity or fraud detection – It is a governance failure. It’s an “institutional culture” failure. It raises serious questions:
· What checks existed to prevent this?
· Why did redress come only after public outcry?
· Why was there no public communication from the bank taking responsibility?
These are not just operational gaps. There are trust gaps.
Reputation is a National Asset
UBA is one of Nigeria’s biggest and most respected banks. That’s what makes this incident even more alarming. You can have decades of goodwill, CSR campaigns, and global expansion, but one integrity scandal can crater your reputation overnight. And reputational risk doesn’t stop at your doorstep; it reverberates across the entire financial sector and nation.
When “trusted” institutions fail to act with integrity, what message do we send to those who JAPA’ed and those considering returning to rebuild?
This is our wake-up call: corruption is not just “their” problem. It’s ours. If you lead a team, run an SME, head a corporate communications unit, or simply use a bank account, you’re part of the system. And if we keep defending the indefensible, or staying silent when institutions fail, we become complicit in the very decay we complain about.
Ethical Practices Are Non-Negotiable
If Nigeria is to mean anything to the millions who left and the millions more who stayed behind, we must build a new culture — one where integrity isn’t an exception, but the standard.
We cannot fix what we refuse to face. And if we do not collectively own up to our individual and institutional roles in sustaining corruption, we will have no moral ground to ask anyone to believe in Nigeria again.
Let’s talk.
What can we — as citizens, business leaders, and professionals — do to rebuild trust in Nigeria’s systems?
