Access Bank plethora of mistakes in war with Nigerian musicians

Apart from the war against hunger and banditry, there are two other big wars going on in Nigeria currently.
The first is the big war between Nigeria’s political gladiators for the person to take over from Muhammad Buhari as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
That war is fierce. The other war is that declared by thousands of Nigerians musicians against one of Nigeria’s big banks, Access Bank, said by the Federal High Court in a judgment, to have unlawfully frozen the bank accounts of the musicians for several years. That also is fierce.
www.beats-onit.com is surprised at how Access Bank has badly mismanaged the confrontation with the musicians and allowed its brand and goodwill to be persistently battered. If the strategy is that the all-out attack on the bank will go away or subside, that may be day dreaming. In these hard times, how does any group of people forget anybody owing them money, especially a big bank?
The attack might actually get worse and dangerous.
At www.beats-onit.com, we are puzzled that Access Bank is yet to give any reason why despite the court order, the musicians’ money has not been released and the damages paid. Are the musicians owing Access Bank? Is there any other credible claim to the money? Even if the foregoing is true, a court order is a court order. It has to be obeyed. The growing feeling that the bank is brazenly defying a court order to release its customers funds is not good for its brand. It is beginning to look like the bank is engaged in brigandage.
Everybody puts his or her money in a bank with the belief that when he or she needs the money, the money will be returned. What is playing out is being watched by bank customers across Nigeria in a way that a lot of people feel that the musicians are fighting for them a just war against a rapacious bank that uses every pretext to cease its customers’ funds. The Nigerian people like it. Besides, Access Bank competitors cannot be unhappy about what is going on.
Maybe somebody in the bank thinks that using its big public relations and advertising power, the bank will suppress the musicians. That will be a terrible mistake. This is the digital age. Each of the musicians is active on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. The sum-total of their campaign will ultimately be devastating to the Access brand. Furthermore, each of the musicians has thousands of fans who have emotional attachment to them. The bank needs to accept that it is dealing with an unusual set of adversaries who cannot be conquered by its legal or public relations armament. In any case, how much is the bank prepared to spend on lawyers and PR? It may be penny wise, pound foolish.
We don’t know if the bank has checked out the man leading the musicians in their war against Access Bank. They should ask about Tony Okoroji, quietly articulate and relentless. Okoroji does not start anything he does not finish. He is at home with the law and he is at home with activism and he cannot be bought. An important news medium recently described him as an enigma and truly he is.
Who is in charge at Access Bank? That person should take quick steps to get the bank out of this war, a war Access bank cannot win.
Culled from www.beats-onit.com
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