Pains, queues ease as banks pay customers weekend -

Banks across the country opened their doors to customers for withdrawals and deposits, bringing an end to long queues and pains suffered as a result of the cash crunch.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had directed all commercial banks to open for operation on Saturdays and Sundays.

This came after the CBN had confirmed the evacuation of banknotes from its vaults to commercial banks across the country as part of a coordinated effort to ease the circulation of banknotes of various denominations.

Our correspondents visited the banks across Lagos and found that banks opened and loaded their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with cash as customers took turns to withdraw cash.

At Festac, one of GTBank’s branches was already open at 9.am when our correspondent visited the bank.

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Customers stood around Access Bank, Fidelity bank at Oshodi waiting for the banks to open as at some minutes past 9am.

A bank staff who spoke with BusinessDay said her bank received N10 million to distribute across the branches and that one other bank got N2.2 billion.

One customer said she withdrew N100,000 as there are no restrictions on the amount to withdraw.

A source close to the CBN said individuals can withdraw as much as N500,000 and Corporate N3 million over the counter.

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Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.