In what appears to be a response to the lingering impacts of some recent policies of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our analyst reports that some customers of Access Bank, one of the leading commercial banks in Nigeria, have turned Twitter into a space where they could get financial support from the bank. Our analyst observes this from over 300 tweets monitored between July 1 and July 2, 2023, until 4:00 am local time.
Our analyst notes that a significant number of tweets highlight individuals facing financial difficulties and seeking help from Access Bank or other Twitter users. These requests range from basic needs like food and shelter to requests for loans or grants. The prevalence of such tweets suggests a broader concern regarding the economic challenges faced by individuals and their reliance on financial institutions for support.
According to our analyst, the majority of the help seekers provided a detailed account without considering the potential public outcry that could follow their action. One customer says, “Boss, please help me. I need to pay my wife’s hospital bill for surgery.” This was tweeted at 3:54 a.m. on July 2, 2023.
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“I have never won your give-away before. I am hopeful you will select me today. I really need it for my school fee and drugs for my parents. Thank you,” another user says.
“Please locate me today, sir. I am tired of being here, but I will never relent.”
“Exams didn’t let me work this period. Nothing at home, which I’d really appreciate!
“I surely know that one day my time will come; I believe that…”
A user with JacksonMfon07, who tagged BlessingGives, appears to be requesting help from an individual, not the bank, saying everything the person (BlessingGives) asked for has been done. JacksonMfon07 states further that please, my birthday is this month, July 19th.”
It will be recalled that in 2020, the bank gave out N5 billion to 20,000 customers in the DiamondXtra savings scheme. As of the time of writing this insight, our analyst could not link the help patterns to this scheme. However, our checks using multiple search engines reveal that people have had significant interest in whether the bank is giving out money to people through one of its marketing and sales promotion schemes or campaigns.
