With just hours to the deadline of the swap of the old naira notes for the new notes, the cash crunch in the country is nowhere nearing an end as bank customers are still unable to access their cash to bay basic needs.
Mammoth crowd and long queues at bank counters and ATMs have gradually become the norm in almost every part of the country which has generated anger and frustration among customers, some of whom have resorted to destroying properties.
This has even led to some of the bank branches shutting down their operations due to fear of customers going violent and getting caught up in the cross fire, as they attribute their lack of cash as their reason for the closing down of many of their branches.
Many banks have been short changing their customers by programming their ATMs to produce only N1,000, N2,000 per withdrawal.
Many banks have been short changing their customers by limiting how much they can withdraw for each attempt. The limited amount varies depending on the bank, the location and the cash available with them.
In few functioning ATMs, some customers also lament that the machines restrict withdrawals by other bank customers to between N1,000 to N5,000, while customers using ATMs of the same bank are restricted to between N5,000 to N10,000. This is so they can deduct the N35 charges after the third withdrawal.
READ MORE: Naira Redesign: Tinubu’s Outcry Over CBN’s Policy Made Others Speak Out – Fashola
This is despite the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the banks that they should limit withdrawals to N20,000 new notes daily at the bank counter.
Some banks even closed down due to the fear of customers going violent and getting caught in it. This is following attack of the bank branches in Ogun and Oyo states where bank properties were damaged.
Many of these banks attributed their lack of cash as their reason for the closing down of many of their branches. Meanwhile, the management of the banks have also warned their staff against wearing official or customised uniforms to avoid being identified and targeted for attack.
POS agents are reported to have been demanding to be paid by customers before they can withdraw their monies. Some agents demand for between N500 to N1,000 commission for a withdrawal of N5,000 while others demand from customers from between N1,000 to N2,000 just to withdraw from between N6,000 and N10,000. Other operators now collect requests of their customers and their phone numbers, with the assurance that they’ll get back to them when they have cash.
The court order suspending the February 10 deadline has rather than reduce the tension, generated uncertainties and confusion as to where customers’ old not still remain legal tender or not. This is after Zamfara, Kogi, and Kaduna dragged the CBN before the Supreme Court over the naira redesign policy. Kano State has also filed a suit against the FG in that regard.
One can only hope that the hardship being forced on Nigerians doesn’t lead to an uprising that will later cause the disruption of this months election, which many are already predicting.
The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration should stop making policies, whether good or bad, that will cause hardship on Nigerians who they swore to protect, and still be telling them to bear. Nigerians shouldn’t be the ones bearing the brunt of the in-fighting within the All Progressives Congress.
APC’s ignorance has come back to hunt them an unfortunately, innocent Nigerians. It’s either Godwin Emefiele was already an APC member before being appointed as the CBN governor or after. Even if they weren’t aware then, didn’t they know then that his attempt to contest the party’s presidential primary without resigning his position and still being kept in the saddle, against the provisions of the constitution was a threat to national security?
Both the party cabals an those are aren’t among the cabals are members of the APC, hence the APC governors and the party should stop dissociating themselves from naira swap policy which has cause untold hardship on the masses.
