New Telegraph

Cash crunch: Queues as bank ATMs dispense cash

There were long queues at some of the commercial banks in Lagos on Saturday following the injection of more bank notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into commercial banks. The apex bank had on Thursday confirmed the evacuation of bank notes from its vaults to commercial banks across the country as part of a coordinated effort to ease the circulation of the banknotes of various denominations.

The Central Bank also directed all commercial banks to open for operations on Saturdays and Sundays. The bank said that a substantial amount of money, in various denominations, had been received by the commercial banks for onward circulation to their respective customers. The CBN had directed all banks to load their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) as well as conduct physical operations in the banking halls at the weekends. Meanwhile, our correspondent who monitored some of the banks in the metropolis to check compliance reported that the long queues at the commercial banks persisted at the bank ATMs that were dispensed cash as some of the banks visited were not dispensing. Security men at the gate of the branches visited disclosed that their staff were on duty expecting cash which they had been promised would come.

The banks visited along Ajao Estate Road in Oshodi –Isolo and Alimosho Local Government Areas are Guarantee TrustHolding Company (GTCO), Keystone Bank, First City Monument Bank, Zenith Bank, Firstbank, United Bank for Africa, Globus bank, Polaris Bank and Union Bank. The banks which paid their customers had limits to what they pay, which ranges from N5, 000, N10, 000 and N20, 000. Some banks paid N10, 000 to their customers, N5, 000 to non-customers and others only to bank customers. An official at one of the banks which pays N20, 000 to its customers, disclosed that for a customer to be paid the amount, the person must put his or her BVN down with a thumb print to ensure that they do not withdraw above the specified limit. Mr. Ayotunde Dayo, a transporter, who expressed joy that the banks are complying with the CBN directive, urged the apex bank to adequately supply banks with enough cash that could go round for everyone to access. “This rationing of cash that banks are doing is not the best, when I heard that CBN had asked banks to begin to pay customers cash even on weekends, I was happy because the suffering of the people would reduce. “But from the look of things, the sufferings will still continue because many banks only pay to their customers, if you are a non-customer, nothing for you. “I use GTB but because I heard Zenith was paying I had to stop over to withdraw, but on getting here, I am told that I have no business being here because they only pay to their customers and it’s N5,000. This is not good,’’ he said.

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