Tina Amanda
Some bank customers have decried the unjust behaviour of commercial banks in Port Harcourt for denying them access to the bank premise to collect their money.
Some bank customers who expressed their frustration to our correspondent that went to monitor the scarcity of cash situation in some areas of Port Harcourt lamented they have been unable to withdraw cash either from the bank counter or Automated Teller Machine (ATM) for days now.
According to them, why would banks fail to dispense cash and shut their gates on customers with the excuse there is no money, and where do banks expect them to get money from if the financial institutions claim to be out of cash?
A customer who identified himself as Comrade Ekeke said banks should be blamed for making customers go through lots of stress and pain in trying to get back the money deposited into their accounts.
“The situation is not palatable. I have been here for hours and have been denied access to the bank premise. Blanks is no more giving out money to customers but prefers to sell to agents such as POS operators.
“What happened to our money in the bank? They keep telling us there is no money but prefers to sell cash to POS operators and specific individuals. This is the weekend we can not get money from the bank to feed; our children are hungry, with no money and no food; how do they want us to survive?
“The POS operators are not helping matters either; their charges are equivalent to the money you want to withdraw. They charge four hundred (400) naira for two thousand (2000) naira withdrawals because they claim the money was sold to them by bank officials as it is no longer business as usual.
“We can not make a withdrawal, and we can not also use the bank transfer services effectively due to poor network in the banking system. The country is just frustrating its citizens; if nothing is done urgently to alleviate the people’s sufferings, we would have no option but to protest”.
Our correspondent reported that some of the bank staff blamed CBN for not supplying banks with cash after retrieving the old naira notes from them.
