Naira is now on sale in Nigeria, no thanks to the scarcity of both old and new notes in bank halls and their Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) terminals.
In many cities, Point of Sale (PoS) operators, bureau de change agents and emergency currency hawkers sold old and new notes to desperate Nigerians in need of cash yesterday.
Many ATM terminals in Lagos and Abuja, for instance, were empty. The few that dispensed old and new notes had crowds waiting to make withdrawals.
At a terminal along Fatai Atere Way in Matori, Mushin, the struggle to secure positions in queues resulted in fisticuffs.
The situation at the banking halls was nearly the same
In Lagos, Bureau De Operators cashed in on the scarcity by selling the new notes.
An operator offered to sell N50,000 worth of new notes for N65,000 to a resident.
At one of the PoS points in Lagos, a resident was charged N1,000 for N10,000 worth of old notes.
In Abuja, a PoS operator collected an extra N600 charge from a resident for the N2,000 because he asked for new notes.
In Bauchi State, gunmen invaded a PoS centre in Zaki Local Government Area, snatching new notes at gunpoint. An unidentified PoS operator and two others sustained injuries.
Bank customers expressed frustrations over the scarcity of the redesigned notes across all payment channels and over-the-counter transactions.
Those who thought the 10-day extension for the use of the old notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will bring relief to customers were disappointed.
At Ilupeju, Lagos Mainland, there were long queues in many banks’ ATM points and banking halls, with customers rushing to deposit old notes to collect new ones.
At Town Planning, Ilupeju branches of GTBank, Access Bank and Keystone Bank, many customers who were unable to make withdrawals from the ATMs quickly rushed into the banking hall for over-the-counter transactions. They were also disappointed.
They were paid with N100 and N50 notes, irrespective of the amount they wanted to withdraw, and were further advised to do transfers.
By 11 am, the only functional ATM point in the branch had stopped dispensing cash.
At the Ajose Adeogun branch of GT Bank and Zenith Bank, only one ATM was working in each of the branches as of 4 pm.
Many customers were seen patiently waiting for their turns in the long queues at both banks’ ATMs.
A customer, Maureen Amosun, said she spent one and a half hours making N10,000 withdrawals from the GTBank ATM.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
