By Tajudeen Atitebi
Lagos, Jan. 28, 2023 – Many customers who went to their banks in Lagos to withdraw new naira notes on Saturday said they were disappointed as the ATMs of all the banks did not work in spite of many promises of the central bank.
Some customers, who said they came to banks as early as 7.00 am ,were still in their branches as at 10.00 am when a correspondent of Global Business news (GBN) visited.
Some of the customers said they had made several attempts to get the new notes since the beginning of the week, but had not been successful.
The GBN correspondent reported that he visited seven banks’ branches in Lagos on Saturday and none of their ATMs worked.
The banks visited in the Lagos metropolis are UBA, Zenith, GTB, Lotus, First Bank and FCMB.
An official of Zenith Bank branch on Oba Akran Road in Ikeja, who wanted anonymity, confessed that the new notes were not available anywhere.
The officer said that the branch had not been supplied new notes in the last few days.
“The situation is not peculiar to this bank, it cuts across all the banks.
“That’s the reason. All the ATMs are not working as we cannot load old notes on them due to the instruction by the CBN”.
On how soon the situation will improve? The officer said he would not know.
“The ATMs will work as soon as we get the new notes,” he said.
Many customers said that they were disappointed at the CBN as they had relied on its instructions to get the new notes through the machines.
The branch of Lotus Bank in Egbeda in Alimosho area of Lagos was a beehive when the correspondent visited.
“I thought the crowd of customers I saw at the bank came to deposit the old notes, but I was shocked when the said they waiting for the ATM machines to work.
“The time was about 2.00 pm,” the correspondent reported.
Although, commercial banks had sent out messages to customers earlier that they would open at the weekend to customers to deposit the old notes.
The response by customers to deposit their old notes was rather low.
Many customers went to the banks to collect the new notes, rather than deposit the old notes.
The banking halls were full in many of the banks visited as many customers were not depositing their old notes. (GBN)
