WORLD BANK AND IT'S IRRESPONSIBLE STAFF By Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
On May 5, 2016, I wrote a letter to World Bank director in Nigeria, Mr Rachid Benmessaoud, complaining about the shabby event they hosted at their Nigerian head office in Asokoro, and the disgraceful remarks of one of their staff who coordinated the program. It's over 3 months already, and to my greatest surprise, the World Bank neither acknowledged the receipt of the letter nor responded to it. I feel really disappointed because, one may be forced to assume that the organization is truly represented by the disappointing attitude of its staff. With all sense of modesty, this is not a very good development from a reputable organization like the world Bank. In the letter, I made it clear that, were it possible to write the letter anonymously, nothing would have been more pleasing. However, the statements i shall have to make in the letter will be so important that it would be considered a sheer act of cowardice not to disclose my identity.
I beg, however, to assure that I write not from any personal motives, nor yet from those of self righteousness or of seeking undue attention.
''This letter, with utmost respect to your high office, is simply to express my disappointment over the poor organization at World Bank Youth Transforming Africa’s conference. Also, it is equally to register my complaint, over the uncomplimentary remark of one of your staff at the event.' I wrote. Read the letter below.
On 12th April 2016, World Bank hosted an event tagged, ‘’World Bank Youth Transforming Africa’’, a video conference at the World Bank Country office, Abuja. I was one of the participants at the World Bank office in Nigeria, at No 102 Yakubu Gowon Crescent, opposite Ecowas Commission, Asokoro Abuja.
The event was my first experience in a World Bank organized programme and I had hope and high expectations of your most respectable organization. However, the poor organization at the conference not only betrayed my expectation of the World Bank, It ended up making me lose interest in the event as a whole. While I was still trying to figure out what to do next with my lost of interest, the uncomplimentary remark made by one of your staff eventually gave me no choice, other than walking out of the event with utmost disappointment.
On the faithful day, at about 2: 30 PM, I and other participants were ushered into the World Bank premises for the conference, and since the event was scheduled to kick off by 2:30 PM, everyone took their sit and the video conference equipment was all connected. The event officially started few minutes later.
While the event had been ongoing, we could not follow or participate in it due to poor audio and video transmission. As a matter of fact, there was a total breakdown of the Tele Conference at some point.
To the best of my records, I recall that from beginning, till i left the venue almost 2 hours later, the Conference consistently experienced break in visual and audio transmission.
At first, while background shadows of projector do indicate that a speaker is speaking at the other end; we the participants could not hear the speaker. Soon after, the audio came back on, but the visuals went off completely. Moments later, the audio also went off completely and we were left with nothing for several munities afterward. At this point, it was obvious there was an internal technical problem from the World Bank. We also noticed that participants from other countries were facing similar problems. The system had to be restarted completely.
Having realized how disappointing the encounter was, a staff of your organization, who happens to be one of the event coordinators, came forward to apologize for the break down. He informed us of the ongoing efforts to fix the problem and assured that everything shall be resolved in a very short while. However, as if instigated by an unknown force, the same official, moment later, withdrew his apology in the most embarrassing manner.
According to him, ‘’I should not even apologize for this, we are all used to it. This is Africa, this is Nigeria, things like this should not be new to all of us’’. He remarked.
For me, there is no other disrespectful remark that could be more than the above, especially as it is coming from a respectable organization like the World Bank. I find it most degrading and detestful. Until this moment, i am still at loss, on how a World Bank staff, would blame poor organization and their error on Africa or Nigeria. This is most regrettable.
Am tempted to ask why World Bank failed to make adequate preparation for such an event or better still, why did it assigned unprofessional staff who harbor such poorly thought view and could blame Nigeria or Africa for this error?
Finally, I would like to urge you, most humbly sir, to properly look into this matter for the sake of your organizational reputation. My experience at the World Bank Youth Transforming Africa Conference is unpalatable; it should not be the story of my encounter with the World Bank.