CITIZENS COMPASS-:THE effects of the scarcity of Naira notes is taking its toll on residents as a yet-to-be-identified man has been confirmed dead having queued for several hours in Delta State.
He was said to have slumped and died on Thursday, February 2, 2022, at a new generation bank in Ika South Local Government Area of Agbor.
Reports said he slumped and died after waiting for long hours to collect his Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card at the bank.
The incident was confirmed by Delta Police spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, on Friday.
He said: “He was not trying to withdraw cash; he came to collect his ATM card.”
One Omole Mike, who shared a photo of the deceased on Facebook wrote:
Just now, at about 1:30 pm. Somebody collapsed and died in the First bank of Nigeria, Agbor Branch. The Date is on 02-02-2023. May his Soul Rest in Peace. It is well?”
Meanwhile, the Apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), directed banks to pay the new notes over the counter, and not more than N20,000 per day.
The apex bank, which assured that queues at Automatic teller Machines, ATMs, would soon thin out, vowed to, in collaboration with the police and other security agencies, arrest and prosecute those selling and abusing the new notes.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, also said yesterday that presidential candidates are bank owners and would, therefore, not be affected by the scarcity of the new notes.
The CBN has fixed February 10 as the new deadline for the swap of old naira notes, having initially fixed January 31 as the deadline.
Currently, many Nigerians have been unable to get the new N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, prompting a scarcity and attendant suffering in the polity.
Citizens Compass reports the pains currently being experienced by Nigerians in a bid to withdraw the Naira notes.
Due to the scarcity of the notes, many Point of Sales (PoS) operators are forced to introduce excessive charges to their customers.
Depending on the location, PoS customers pay a minimum of N1,000 per N10,000 transaction.
It was learnt that bank customers now pass the night at Automated Teller Machine (ATM) centers to enable them access the notes.
The social media space is daily been bombarded with the experiences of Nigerians in their quest to withdraw the Naira notes at various banks.
One of the videos revealed a woman who striped herself half baked demanding to close down her bank account.
Another video revealed some bank customers who after a long queue at a new generation bank, vandalised the bank gate in protest.
There are permutations that right activists across the country, are ready to hit the streets in protests of scarcity of Naira notes.
On Friday, a social media user by name, Bobinson said, “Today, a deaf person who was involved in accident and need money to pay for drugs and treatment.
We went to several banks making appeal to them to help us so we can withdraw funds. The Banks merely told us no cash!
“They have exhausted their allocation of cash. We are in trouble in this country! We can no longer withdraw our own money to treat ourselves.
“If this continues and citizens start to gather and protests, may God help us another #EndSARS not repeat itself.”
