Why the ‘Call Me Tony’ Debate Exposes Corporate Nigeria’s Culture Clash

The debate over a UBA trainee addressing Tony Elumelu by his first name is about more than one greeting. If the bank has a first-name workplace culture, she may simply have followed the rule she was taught. The real question is why that rule now feels uncomfortable to many Nigerians. I believe the issue exposes a wider clash between imported corporate practices and Nigerian ideas of age, seniority and respect. First-name culture was introduced to reduce unhealthy deference and encourage junior staff to speak freely. It worked more easily when executives and employees were closer in age and experience. Decades later, those executives are elders while graduate trainees may be young enough to be their grandchildren. A workplace rule may say, “Call me Tony,” but the wider culture teaches young people to use respectful forms of address for elders. The resulting awkwardness is a problem with the convention, not necessarily the employee. Respect should not mean servility, and modern workplaces should not become rigidly hierarchical. However, Nigeria should examine the purpose of social conventions before discarding them. Equality, warmth and professional openness can coexist with respectful ways of recognising age, office and relationship.

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