Cash Crunch: Fear Grips Bank Staff Over Possible Aggression

Kazeem Badmus

THERE is palpable fear among workers of commercial banks in Osogbo, capital of the State of Osun, over possible aggression from their various customers who were experiencing difficulty in assessing cash.

Findings among various staff of the banks revealed that they have all been told to remain calm in the face of provoca ons from any customer to avoid being attacked.

OSUN DEFENDER noted that majority of the bank staffs were no longer parking their vehicles at the bank premises.

Some of the staff who spoke with the medium under condi on of anonymity yesterday, said the huge crowd at their various Automated Teller Machine galleries and in the banking halls posed threats to their safety.

OSUN DEFENDER noted that the fear was heightened by the violent protests and a acks on some banks in Ibadan of Oyo State and Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Tuesday.

According to some of the staff, the paucity of new naira notes and cash generally has exposed them to threats, harassment and hu- milia on.

They absolved the banks from allega on that they were hoarding cash and thereby deliberately punishing their customers and starving them of cash.

A staffer at one of the new genera on banks at Ogo-Oluwa area, Osogbo, said the protests in Oyo and Ogun states have created fear in the minds of the bank staffs.

The staffer who prefer anonymity told the medium that bank managements had requested for more security personnel to forestall any problem.

She said, “I can confirm to you that we are all afraid of possible aggression from the customers. The situaon is ge ng out of hand and it may lead to crisis if not properly managed.

“We are not responsible for the cash crunch; the problem is not from us but how many people are we going to explain that to? Will they even care to listen to our explana on?

However, the medium gathered that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Patrick Longe, on Monday held a mee ng with all the bank managers in the state where he advised them to push all the cash in their custody out for their customers.

The commissioner has also reportedly put his men on alert to forestall any breakdown of law and other in the face of the lingering fuel and cash crises.

Going around some commercial banks in the state, OSUN DEFENDER noted that customers have con nued to besieged ATM galleries to withdraw cash.

Long queues, figh ng and disappointment s ll persist at the various ATM centres, in spite of the fact that some banks have been paying the new naira notes on the counters.

It was noted that Jaiz Bank is the most consistent in the disbursement of the redesigned new naira notes on the counter and ATM.

Don’t A ack Banks, Staffs, ACAMB Pleads With Nigerians

Meanwhile, the Associa on of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB) has appealed with Nigerians not to a ack banks and their staffs, saying that they were not responsible for the lingering scarcity of cash.

The President of the associa on, Mr. Rasheed Bolarinwa while speaking on Rave FM’s ‘Frank Talk’ programme on Wednesday, urged the people to be paent, sta ng that the banks managements were ready to resolve the challenges they are facing.

He appealed to bank customers not abhour the misconcep on that the banks or their staffs are hoarding money, saying the banks are not in control of the supply of cash.

Bolarinwa said: “The banks are not hoarding or hiding money from the people. We understand the hiccups and pains Nigerians have been made to go through with the implementa on of this currency redesign.

“The policy is meant to promote a cashless policy but the implementa on has gone awry, however, the banks are adjus ng to the dictate of the situaon.

“Right now, the regulatory body is well aware of the situa on in the country. They have set up a task force comprising different agencies of government that are moving round and the vault of banks is being opened.

“We shouldn’t go away with this misconcep on that the banks or the bankers are hoarding money. If you get into a vault and you see money, the vault is meant to hold money. There are protocols for moving money from the vault to the counter.

“It is not the banks that control the supply of naira. It is handled by a third party. So, the banks are not at fault in anyway.

“People should be paent. We know the pains that this hiccup has caused but we will con nue to plead with Nigerians, please don’t a ack the banks.

“We are not enemies of the people. Whenever there are challenges, let us point them out and we will try as soon as possible to resolve it. The bankers are our brothers and sisters. An average banker has about eight dependants, so, we should not go about a acking the banks. The banks are not at fault in this”.

Aflurry of ac vi es is predictable with heightened ac vi es as we count down to the final weeks of what could be the most decisive indeed game changing general elec on since independence. There is that much at stake.

Not all the indica ons are posi ve. For example, the collec on of the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) has ended controversially with a lot of people feeling disenfranchised. Sadly, there are even hints of voter suppression. This is unacceptable for a country that has been at the forefront of championing democra c rights and was at the forefront of the an -apartheid struggle. There is a clear case now for another extension of PVCs collec on, in the long term, we must now consider same day registra on which worked in Kenya alongside further reforms in voter registra on. A review is essen al because our current system is outdated to state the least. It is disgraceful that tens of thousands of voter cards are being confiscated from foreigners.

In addi on, the Peace Commi ee has a lot of work to do, so do the security agencies. Some people have to be cau oned