ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL SECRETARIES IN COMMERCIAL BANK (CASE STUDY OF AFRIBANK PLC IN ENUGU, ENUGU STATE)

INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 
The word secretary is derived from the Latin word “secretus” which literally means “keeper of secrets’. As far back as 1887, Lord Eshere word who defined a secretary as “ a mere servant” his position is that he has to do what he is told and no person can assume he has any authority to represent anything at all. Thus the above definition was however made when the values of secretarial profession has yet been recognized. At this time, secretarial functions were limited to only typing with manual typewriter, writing with shorthand and filling of documents
As years pass by, the educated status of secretaries as enhanced and their responsibility in the organization became clearly defined. In 1982, Margaret Kuntz define secretary in a magazine “Today’s Secretary” as an executive who possesses a mastery of office skill, demonstration the ability to assume responsibility and makes decisions within the scope of assigned authority
Today secretary ship is a very vital and indispensable cancer needed for the smooth and efficient running of the day-to-day business of any organization. Their functions are limitless, not only do the secretary type, but they do that with the electric typewriter, computer and so many other sophisticated office equipment
A good secretary is a public relation officer and an administrative head. She is the image maker. In other words, the reflecting glass of the organization. Most executive secretaries handle only highly confidential matters while jobs of less confidential nature are passed down to her subordinates.
Moreover, even before the advent of computers, many speculations were made as regards the replacement of the secretaries by the computers since computer perform all office work at a very amazing speed, but this has been disproved because the secretary has to tell the computer what to do and when to do it.
Before the word computer is used when referring to a person who arithmetic procedures such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division is extraordinary
During that period man use pebbles, grains of corn, fingers and toes as well as smaller objects
The numerous problems encountered by man, what dealing with large number was, the necessity which gave to the invention of a computer. The Abacus was adopted and modified by the Chinese and the Japanese about 2600 B.C