Throughout the weekend, customers of several commercial banks in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, were left stranded with the situation made worse by the poor services provided by Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
Many of the ATMs failed completely to dispense cash and were observed to be empty from Saturday through Sunday.
The same scenario is said to have played out in the first quarter of 2023.
A commercial bank customer lamented having an emergency issue to deal with, which he could not easily solve because no ATM machine dispensed cash.
He stated, “I had an emergency on Saturday, so I rushed to the nearest bank to use their ATM. To my surprise, none of the ATMs was dispensing.
“I am aware that the banks have capped daily withdrawal again, but my problem is, why are the ATMs not dispensing? I find it hard to understand why I have to carry about an ATM card and yet I can’t use it when I want to.”
The issue was replicated in several banks visited, located at Gbongan-Ibadan road, Oke-Fia, Station Road, and Igbona axis of Osogbo, the state capital.
Another customer, David Olayinka, said he had no other option than to resort to Point Of Sale (POS) agents.
“I was charged N150 for each N5000 I collected from the POS agent. I could not collect more than N5000 from a POS agent.
“I needed N50000, so I had to collect that sum from ten different POS agents because they too could not give me more than that amount. I also had to cough out N1500 as POS charges.
“It was not funny, and I don’t know if this is the way we will start the new year.”
POS agents have also decried the capping of withdrawals by commercial banks. Some agents revealed that these banks have slashed daily withdrawals and sought out alternative sources of cash from petrol attendants, commercial motorcyclists, and traders.
“Most of the banks have slashed their daily withdrawals. Some only allow N20,000, while some go as low as N5,000. This is the yuletide period, and it is now that business is supposed to boom, but imagine what we are experiencing.
“The banks said they don’t have cash, and that the Central Bank of Nigeria is mopping up cash. What for?” Adedayo Azeez, a POS agent queried.