Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Many customers were stranded today in most banks in Port Harcourt while waiting to do financial transactions in the wake of the popular but controversial EndSARS protests in the garden city.
TPCN investigations today showed that customers who suffered most were those who went to withdraw money from the banks although others who wanted to do other transactions also had difficulties because of the rush witnessed in banks.
The cause of the stampede-like rush was as a result of the many customers that trooped to the banks to withdraw money as many of them lacked cash at the weekend due to a slow down of business activities in the city as a result of the protests.
Most banks closed down activities since Tuesday last week when it was clear that the protests were turning violent, with some of the protesting youths allegedly destroying shops and public places.
At Rumuokwuta Roundabout-Rumuola Road axis, customers were seen standing at the gate and struggling to enter inside the premises of some of the banks there, with some leaving out of anger after spending hours without collecting money.
At Fidelity Bank near Rumuokwuta Roundabout, TPCN saw the same scene, with customers standing at the gate which was locked. The security men allowed one or two customers to go at a time.
At Polaris Bank, Rumuola Roundabout, the ATM machines were not paying. There was no money inside them and the bank seemed not to be in a hurry to put money into it, resulting in customers leaving with disappointment after trying to withdraw money from them. It was the nearby Sterling Bank that was paying, as two out of three of its ATMs were paying.
Along Aba Road, Zenith Bank, Polaris Bank and a few other banks also had their ATMs paying without stress. However, TPCN did not witness a rush of customers in these banks like those in Rumuokwuta.
It was gathered that the reason was because they started paying early unlike other banks.
Generally, many customers complained about the delay they witnessed in some banks today, attributing it to the unpreparedness of banks to attend to their numerous customers.
One of those who came to withdraw money at Fidelity Bank, Rumuokwuta lamented: “Why won’t there be a rush when they know what happened last week. Many people did not collect money from the ATMs because they were not working. I was at GTB at Location junction, NTA road but their ATMs were not paying yesterday that was Sunday. I had to sleep without eating because no money. Banks should have known that there will be rush today but they don’t prepare for their customers.”
