Since the late Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer, brought the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, into Lagos on 20 July, 2014, and died from the disease on 25 July, 2015, various precautionary measures have been put in place by Nigerian banks to curb the spread of the deadly disease inside their banking halls.

Among measures adopted by banks in Nigeria include provision of sanitizers at the entrance of banks’ branches for customers to wash their hands, screening of customers or visitors for body temperature levels using infra-red thermometer prior to gaining access to  banking halls and others.

Part of the aforesaid measures include banning customers with body temperature higher than the normal temperature range from entering the bank branch or building as the case may be.

However, the Guaranty Trust Bank, popularly called GTB, has taken a step further as it has instructed its staff not to offer customers the usual ‘you are welcome handshake’.

In other to sensitize its customers about the new measure, posters containing the new measure and others already put in place are displayed conspicuously at entrances of the bank’s branches in Lagos.

According to the contents of the posters, the ban on handshakes is put in place “in view of the recent outbreak of Ebola virus in Nigeria”.