FIJ
As she holds her nine months old baby, Mberede Lovelyn Chiamaka takes a deep breath when I ask her what happened to the N11 million she and her husband invested in the United Bank for Africa’s (UBA) Target Account. UBA Target Account is an account with high interest rates that is specifically designed for individuals to save towards a project, with a minimum operating balance of N50,000.
For four years, Chiamaka had been operating a UBA account. She opened her account at Oba Akran, Lagos, where she and her husband had been fixing their money through her own account at the banks treasury bill. She told FIJ that anytime they fixed their money, they always obtained a certificate of investment from UBA.
In 2019, while her husband, Onuba Julius, was at their shop at Oshodi Express, along Charity Road, where they sold cosmetics and hair extensions in wholesale, he was approached by a staff member of UBA, Monday Sule Ilemona, who marketed the UBA Target Account to them. Onuba explained to Monday that they already had an account with UBA where they fixed money. This explanation did not deter Monday. He sought to know the platform they fixed their money in, and when he was told that it was treasury bills, Monday found a perfect opportunity to market UBA Target Account.
Monday explained that treasury bills was fixing money with the Federal Government through UBA, while the UBA Target Account was directly fixing money with UBA. He further convinced Onuba that if they had enough turnover in their target account, they would be granted a loan from UBA to expand their business. In addition to all these, Monday explained that UBA gave gifts to those who ran UBA Target Accounts, depending on the amount of money that was fixed.
When Onuba got home, he gave Chiamaka a download of everything Monday had told him. He also suggested that instead of going to the Oba Akran branch where they had been using, it was more convenient to use the Oshodi branch that was close to their shop to renew their fixed deposit. This decision would lead to a downward spiral that both husband and wife would struggle to recover from. When they started using the Oshodi branch, Monday became their account manager and had unfettered access to their accounts. He had asked Chiamaka and her husband to write a letter to change account officers from the person who was managing it before to him.
CONFIRMED: MONDAY ILEMONA WORKED FOR UBA
