If you are working in the financial sector, there’s no way you won’t have heard about how a girl working in one of the most popular Nigerian Banks in Ikorodu is currently cooling her heels in prison as we speak.
I have never seen a bold idiotic thief like this girl before. As a head teller, she was stationed at a Nigerian University in Lagos. I won’t mention the bank or the school. This girl has access to all the accounts the university has with her bank. The accounts are so many that I doubt the school has wind of amounts flowing in. They don’t even have people monitoring these accounts. (I blame the school on this part).
This girl, Zainab in the past two years has been removing monies from different accounts belonging to this university with huge sums. The day she would remove 1m, 2m or 3m. It was possible because the bank branch she operates in is a very small unit and authorization is done by her. (The branch in the school is small. I think it is just for deposit).
One sunny day like that, someone from the Bursary department of the school noticed it and immediately went to the small bank in the school to meet with the amazing thief. He wasn’t there to stop it, in fact, he was there to negotiate. He negotiated and gave the girl more accounts to penetrate into with a splitting formula. In 2 years, they have moved about 100m according to the school.
How was she caught?
Some months ago, she was transferred out of the branch to a big branch where her roles are limited to authorization. So, she needs someone to initiate the transaction first before she authorizes and that’s the work of smaller tellers. She didn’t have access to direct debiting again.
Some Fridays ago, at the close of business, she codedly and cunningly used the access of one of the newbies teller to make a 3m transfer to the account she was always transferring to. (She has opened an account for her younger brother using her own details. He didn’t even know he has an account with the bank). She has even gone to her desk to authorize it. Omo ogbon.
The newbie teller sensed something was wrong and immediately went back to log in, only to see the transaction she never did. She called another newbie teller and they faced Zainab to provide her the ticket to the transaction she did on her computer. (A crime on its own. Every bank frowns at giving out your login details to another staff). Being the head, the cunningly maneuvered her way out and told them they will get the ticket on Monday.
The newbie teller couldn’t sleep all weekend. Her heart beat fast until she spoke up and explained what happened to her sister who asked her to inform their boss on Monday. It was when she reported that they searched through her login details and found out she has stolen enough in the past two years while she was in the school small branch.
Police were invited and investigation happened broadly. Everyone involved was packed.
Now, what did she spend money on? She has made over 43m but never bought land or house. She dresses newly everyday. She doesn’t repeat clothes. While others are eating mama put, she’s always ordering meals. She orders Uber for everything and will never be caught in danfos like me. She won’t even manage BRT 😭. She didn’t spend 1 Naira on her family. Her mother sells bread on the pavement beside the road in Ikorodu garage. She was buying wigs upon wigs upon wigs. She spent money sleeping in hotels and balling her boyfriend. Nothing tangible was caught with her. In fact, her mother still sell bread by the roadside with her head buried in shame her daughter brought upon her.
Everyone has a fault in this case but a thief is a thief. What she didn’t know is that Freedom is better than 43m. Kirikiri will open your eyes. If you are a thief, you can stop now.