Naira Notes Scarcity Bites Hard, As Nigerians Sleep At Banks’ ATM Galleries Over Long Queues

Many Nigerians are angry and frustrated as they sleep in various bank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) locations in order to withdraw new notes from the bank ATMs.

While some bank customers, for example, in Enugu State, lingered until 2 a.m. until the monies loaded were completed, others came in as early as 3 a.m. to stay till morning so that they could be among the first to make withdrawals when the banks opened at 8 a.m.

It was discovered that practically all banks had only one or two ATM machines dispensing cash, while hundreds of other ATM machines were not filled, forcing hundreds of customers to line for up to five hours to make withdrawals.

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A bank customer identified as Oforbuike Moses told SaharaReporters that he had been returning to bank ATMs for three days to make withdrawals but had been unsuccessful due to a large crowd that besieged bank ATMs.

He added, “I was even told that some people slept in the ATM because the only machine dispensing money stopped working by 2am and they had to sleep there.”

Lamenting the situation, Moses described this CBN new monetary Policy as demonic and evil.

“There’s no reason whatsoever to justify this unmitigated suffering that they have thrown Nigerians into. People now leave their businesses and spend the whole day in other to get N20,000 only. Yet terrorists and bandits in the Northern Nigeria are already parading the new banknotes in millions while the poor Nigerians are being subjected to unimaginable suffering to make simple N20,000 withdrawal here.”

Another bank customer, Kingsley Obi, also lamented the suffering Nigerians were going through to get cash.

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“I went to bank around 1:30am yesterday (Thursday) only to withdraw N20,000 around 11am, after how many hours. So, people have left their businesses to stay in ATM machines. This is the worse policy of this administration.

“Why is Buhari a curse to Nigeria? When he came as a military Head of State in 1983, because of his inept administration Nigerians were pepped. Now he is at it again. People are suffering in everything while the government is not providing solution. It is unfortunate. Nigerians will also make another mistake and choose another Buhari or looters who use different decoy to loot public treasure,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, the situation in Sokoto State, one of the core northern states, is not much better.

Customers in Sokoto State queued for hours, sometimes days, due to a paucity of new naira notes, according to SaharaReporters.

Due to the long lines, bank customers who want to use the new naira notes have decided to sleep in an ATM gallery.

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Aliyu Muntari, a bank client from Wamakko in the Wamakko Local Government Area, said he decided to bring his beddings to a Zenith bank ATM gallery after waiting for over 14 hours to withdraw N10,000.

“I came all the way from Wamakko town, today is my third day in Sokoto city. I had to bring my mat to sleep at the ATM gallery because I want to be able to get N10,000 cash.

“Surprisingly, I’m not alone, as you can see other people here, we’ll be passing the night so that by the time the machines are loaded in the morning, we’ll be among the people to make withdrawals,” Muntari said.

Another customer, Saminu Kurfi, said, “Imagine how this people have subjected the poor people to hardship. Often you need just N1000 to buy foodstuff but you can’t get it.

“Now in virtually all markets, particularly in rural areas, most vendors no longer accept the old naira notes, making almost impossible to transact any business.

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“This is a very dangerous trend, and I can almost predict that if things continue this way going forward, people may be forced to revolt,” Kurfi said.

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