Cash crunch bites harder as Benin residents lament long queues at banks

Idahosa Moses | Benin City

RESIDENTS of Benin City, Edo State have lamented the hardship faced in a bid to make withdrawals at the banks.

The people, who were seen in their large numbers at the various banks, made efforts to make withdrawal, while some of the customers were unable to do so despite a huge man-hour lost.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune, one of the bank customers who simply gave his name as Owens, said he is tired of the country due to what he described as hardship customers need to go through before withdrawing their deposits.

He said he was at the bank so early but possibility of him making withdraw was slim due to the large number of persons who were also at the bank to make withdrawals.

Owens said the pathetic aspect of it is that the bank is issuing out N4000 old naira notes and a N1000 new note but when taken to the market, it is not accepted and when returned, the bank still does not accept it from them.

“The funniest is that, when they issue it (old note) to us, they will not take it from us when we bring it back, they will direct us to take it to the CBN.

“It is unfortunate, the traders are not accepting the money from us,” Owens lamented.

Another bank customer who preferred anonymity, said she has been at the bank since 7:00 a.m. and she was given number 387 but not sure of making withdrawal due to the long queue.

“Everyone is here under the sun waiting to withdraw money and it is the old money they are dispensing but I do not know if they will collect the money from me at the market,” she said.