Banks shut as Edo residents lament shortage of naira, low sales

Commercial banks as well as some Point of Sale (PoS) agents in Edo State on Thursday shutdown operation following attacks on their facilities.

BusinessDay reports that some residents protested on Wednesday and in the process attacked some Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and other facilities in some banks including the United Bank of Nigeria, Zenith bank, First Bank because they were not able to access their cash.

The Point of Sale operators in the state which has been the last resort for many also took their own share of the destruction.

A visit to some of the banks in Benin City indicates that while the Benin branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria sited on Akpakpava road was manned by security agencies and the road barricaded to prevent access to vehicular and human movements, commercial banks in the metropolis offered no services.

Although there were few customers hoping to gain entrance to the banks visited on Sapele road, Ekenwan road, Sakponba road and Airport road, their gates were apparently shut for fear of being attacked by residents. More so, their money dispensing machines were either out of service or the screens were blank.

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One of the customers, Lucky Edegbe, who stood in front of one of the banks, said: “With the level of damages to the facilities in the bank, I doubt if banks will open this week. I don’t have money on me now, I came here to see if I could withdraw money”.

Also, a resident who gave his name as Abraham said, “I need money but the banks are close, and even the PoS operators we normally rely on, despite the huge charges, are nowhere to be found because they are afraid to open so as not to have their machines destroyed.”

Similarly, traders lamented low patronage from customers, saying there is no money and no assurances that they will make good sales in the coming days since the protest took a different dimension on Wednesday.

“I have been here since morning and nobody is even coming to buy my goods. Even those customers that had hoped to withdraw from PoS could not do such as they do not have cash to give. It is frustrating for us. We were managing to sell one or two things that will take us home but after the protest yesterday, it has not been easy. It is better to go home than to remain here,” the trader lamented.

Schools were not left as most parents ordered their children to sit at home so as not to be caught in the web of the rampage.

Meanwhile, Renner Jumbo, branch controller, CBN, Benin branch, in a meeting with Governor Godwin Obaseki, said he received a call from banks that they will not open because a lot of their facilities were damaged, adding that some may likely open tomorrow (Friday) and others on Monday.