Nigerian Bank’s Easter Message: Government’s silence not golden

Nigerian Bank’s Easter Message: Government’s silence not golden

Nigerian Bank’s Easter Message: Government’s silence not golden

A Nigerian Bank, Sterling Bank, during the just concluded Easter period, through its official communications channels, released a message, purported to be Easter message. The message compares the resurrection of Christ with the rising of Agege Bread, a colloquial name for locally made unbuttered bread. The message said: He is risen like Agege Bread. It accompanied this writing with a visual expression of bread.

To even a layperson, that particular message from the Sterling Bank is uncreative, insensitive, drab and distasteful. Expectedly, Nigerians, especially those of the Christian faith took to their media handles to criticise the bank for the creation and dissemination of this message. As usual, this issue has divided Nigerians along religious lines.

It is worrisome that since this unfortunate incident on April 17, 2022, the Nigerian Government has not made any comment on it, thereby leaving citizens alone to abuse one another on the social media space as they tried to accentuate the rightness or otherwise of the message. The Government has not deemed it necessary to make a comment condemning this insensitive message from a banking institution.

It is unfortunate that the Nigerian Government does not take decisive actions to stem the root causes of religious hatred in Nigeria which dates back to the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 and manifested first in Kano in May 1953 in what became popular as the Kano riot of 1953. What happened in May 1953? The riot was a clash between Northerners, predominantly Muslims who were opposed to Nigeria’s Independence as first suggested in 1953 by a Southern politician, Anthony Enahoro and Southerners made up of Christians mainly the Yoruba and the Igbo who supported immediate independence for Nigeria. The riot that lasted for four days claimed many lives of the Southerners and Northerners and many others were wounded.

Since the 1953 incident, Nigeria has gone through bloody times: through the civil war, military coups and counter coups, electoral or political violence to its current unenviable Boko Haram and era of banditry. The underlying issue that runs through all social unrest in Nigeria is largely faith-based. Religious intolerance. Governments should not therefore condone anything that has the capacity of sparking-off social restiveness, such as the message by the Sterling Bank. One would have expected the Federal Government or any of its actors to speak out sternly against such callous undermining message against the Christian faith by a Bank being patronised by both Christians and Muslims. Although the Bank, which is headed by a Northerner, Suleiman Abubakar, has tendered an apology to the public, it behoves on the state actors to send a strong signal against religious intolerance in Nigeria. It is commendable that the Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Suleiman, in a statement apologised. He said, “On behalf of the management and staff of Sterling Bank Plc, I write to tender our unreserved apology to you and members of our nation’s Christian community for our Easter message of 17 April 2022.

“The content of infographics and the message it contained was insensitive and failed to consider the very sober nature of the event being commemorated, being the death of Jesus Christ.

“While the message had no malicious intent, there is no place for content that fails to fully account for the feelings of billions of people all over the world.

“Our honest intent was to join our millions of customers in Nigeria and worldwide to celebrate this solemn event., but our execution fell short on this occasion.

“Our policies are clear on what constitutes acceptable customer communication, and this message should not have been released to our customers. On this occasion, our editorial processes fell short of our policy standards.

“As a responsible institution, we immediately withdraw the offensive material and initiate a review of the circumstances that led to this failure. We will further sensitise our workforce to ensure this unfortunate lapse in judgement never repeats itself.”

We note that the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) through its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo, condemned Sterling Bank’s action, saying said the bank will face sanction for the “provocative Easter celebration advertisement”. APCON’s reaction is also commendable. However, it is not enough. APCON is not a government body, it is a registered association gazetted by the government, struggling to find its feet.

For a country which has seen the bitterness of religious conflicts, the government should be proactive in nipping such issues in the buds by sending strong signals that it cannot condone utterances capable to inciting religious crises.