…as old, new notes become unavailable in banks, ATMs, PoS
. Bank officials blame CBN for scarcity
Several bank customers on Monday expressed anger over their inability to access both the old and new notes to settle their bills for basic needs and services.
Also, Nigerians across the country expressed anger over scarcity of both the old and new notes in circulation, saying that the Central Bank of Nigeria should have used the deadline extension to provide more of the new notes for the members of the public.
Recall that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Sunday, announced the extension of the deadline for the circulation of the old Naira notes from January 31 to February 10.
At two branches of the GTBank at the Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja, Lagos, area, our correspondent observed bank officials advising customers making withdrawals not to further waste their time queuing up as they have neither the old nor the new Naira notes to dispense.
All the ATMs at the bank’s branches were also not dispensing cash.
Our correspondent reports that similar situation obtained at the Access Bank and UBA branches in the area.
In the Abuja metropolis, all the bank branches visited by our correspondents also claimed not to have supply of both the old and new Naira notes from the CBN.
Long queues and acute scarcity of both the old and new Naira notes have triggered anger and frustration among many bank customers having difficulty in getting the Naira notes for their regular transactions.
The development has left many cash-strapped Nigerians stranded and unable to carry out the financial transactions to meet their basic needs.
Even before the CBN extension on Sunday, there had been acute scarcity of the new N1000, N500 and N200 notes.
Customers could not withdraw the new cash notes from the ATMs as many of them could not dispense.
The development is making it difficult for many Nigerians to access the cash to enable them to pay for purchases.
A trader, Kemi Johnson, told our correspondent that she couldn’t withdraw both the new and old notes in several ATMs she visited in the Ikeja and Agege areas.
According to her, “I went to three different banks, but there was no money in any of them; not even the old notes. Now, I have gone to GTB, UBA and Access, but could not get any cash to withdraw. The banks did not load their ATMs with neither the old or new notes. We are now in a serious dilemma and this is very bad! I am very angry with them.”
Femi Michael accused the government of deliberately punishing Nigerians by mopping up the old Naira notes and at same time refusing to release enough of the new notes into circulation.
He said, “Nigerians are very angry that we can’t easily get our money from the banks when we need it. The government is not considerate at all.”
Idoro Monday lambasted the CBN for “doing a shoddy job of the new Naira notes.”
He warned of an impending crisis if the current situation persists.
“This is not good at all. How can I have money in my bank account, yet I can’t collect out of it while my family is facing serious hunger. The government is risking another violent reaction from the people who are getting angrier everyday,” he said.
In Kaduna, a resident, Yusuf Ibrahim, knocked the Buhari government over the new cashless policy.
Ibrahim warned the government not to push Nigerians to the wall.