A former United Bank for Africa (UBA) staff member, identified as II Moses, has reacted to the viral incident involving a UBA Banking School graduate who addressed the bank’s chairman, Tony Elumelu, by his first name.
The graduate reportedly greeted Elumelu during a graduation event by saying, “Good morning, Tony,” prompting the businessman to correct her and tell her to address him as “Mr. Elumelu.”
The incident has generated debate online, with some Nigerians questioning whether the graduate was wrong to follow the first-name culture she had reportedly been taught during her training.
Reacting to the controversy, Moses said the graduate was not completely wrong because she had been trained under a system that encouraged employees to address colleagues by their first names.
This girl was not entirely wrong, she just lacked sense. I went through the same UBA GMAP she went through and was taught to call our colleagues by their first name,” he wrote.
According to him, trainees were even given examples to demonstrate the practice.
“Yes, they will even give you an example and say the GMD is your colleague, so you can call him by his first name, but this is Africa,” he stated.
Moses also drew from his own experience while working at UBA as a Cash Officer.
He explained that even colleagues who were older than him still addressed him respectfully.
“While I was working with the same UBA as a Cash Officer, even those older than me were calling me ‘Oga Innocent,’ not just Innocent,” he stated.
I feel that was what she wanted, to appear audacious, but then it backfired,” he added.
Moses questioned why the graduate did not simply follow the approach adopted by other graduates at the event.
“It was simple, why didn’t she follow the format everyone else was following? Instead, she decided to call the chairman by name,” he wrote.
He argued that cultural expectations should have guided her response, regardless of the workplace training she had received.
“This man is old enough to be your father, even if he said you should call him by name, your home training should not allow that,” he statedMoses also drew from his own experience while working at UBA as a Cash Officer.
He explained that even colleagues who were older than him still addressed him respectfully.
“While I was working with the same UBA as a Cash Officer, even those older than me were calling me ‘Oga Innocent,’ not just Innocent,” he stated.
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