The Ibadan Experience Shows How Much At Risk Bankers Can Be Unless Bank Cashpoints Are Flooded With New Notes
The Oasis Reporters
February 6, 2023
Expectations were high on Friday last week when customers besieged a commercial Bank in Ibadan that had been facing days without electricity.
Then the unexpected happened. The obviously overworked bank power Generator refused to roar to life. There was bedlam after many hours of waiting.
Trouble started.
Protests and anger spread from downtown Ibadan to other areas and then across the country over the scarce naira notes.
In a Punch newspaper report, pockets of attacks on banks and their staff members by furious customers has thus made bank workers to express concerns over their safety.
The President, National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees, Anthony Abakpa has been quoted by the media as having said that bankers were stressed due to the situation, noting that their work had become hectic.
Video of a bank staff being harassed, her can vandalized as seen here on a social media share. Source unknown.
He added, “Honestly, the situation is hectic, it is not a healthy environment at all. Even as a bank staff and an individual, the masses are angry because there is no cash available and their money is in the bank. The situation is worrisome.
“We will continue to engage and ensure that the safety of every individual working in the bank and insurance sector is upheld, and that is our demand.”
Similarly, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions called on security agencies to ensure the safety and security of bank workers and property.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that ASSBIFI President, Mr Olusoji Oluwole, in a statement on Saturday condemned recent attacks on some financial institutions, saying such endanger the lives of bank workers.
Oluwole stated, “We strongly condemn this act which is borne out of the propaganda against banks as the sole cause of the inability of the public to have access to cash across the country. We have seen a few videos of bank branches allegedly hoarding cash in their vaults.
“While we do not hold brief for these isolated cases or condone any verified bad behaviour, we expect the same sources of these videos to also project the many locations that have continued to provide cash to customers or have empty vaults due to the unavailability of cash. Unfortunately, we do not deem it security conscious for us to share videos or pictures of our vaults with the public as professionals.”
He said bank workers had in the past few weeks worked tirelessly, every day for long hours against the prescribed work hours, noting that such sacrifice was to ensure customers were able to deposit their old currency notes and make the new ones available for withdrawals at Automated Teller Machines.
He added, “This exercise has taken its toll on their health, work-life balance, and families while being faced daily with the fear of physical assaults by irate customers. While we assure the public of our commitment to ensure their pain is ameliorated, we appeal for calm and understanding at this time as we call on the security agencies to ensure the safety and security of our lives and bank property.”
Currency swaps are not unique to Nigeria alone. It is a global phenomenon.
President Goodluck Jonathan’s government between 2010 to 2015 issued a newly redesigned 100 naira notes and the transition from the old notes to the new ones was seemless.
What is currently happening now seems to be a throwback to the currency exchange situation Nigerians had under General Muhammadu Buhari’s military regime in the early 80s.
But then, the notes were immediately available. It was a time for seeming hardship but eventually seamless
So what’s the difference this time?
Infrastructure has further deteriorated. The area the crisis started in Ibadan had been without electricity for days. And the same area is still without electricity except for one or two hours purportedly supplied on Saturday night. So how would overworked bank generators not break down at some point?
The obvious solution would be to work on infrastructure in the country.
Additional reporting: Punch
