THE SEASON OF MORE ATM USERS LESS DISPENSATION

Adeola Balogun, Femi Makinde, Success Nwogu, Olufemi Atoyebi,Samuel Awoyinfa, Nonye Ben-Nwankwo, Jesusegun Alagbe, Eric Dumo, Armstrong Bakam, and Ovie Okpare

Millions of Nigerians were left stranded and frustrated on Friday when Automated Teller Machines in most banks across the country dispensed less cash in some cases and failed to dispense cash in some other instances.



Many of the customers, who had hoped to get enough cash from the ATMs to pay bills and shop for food items and other goods ahead of the Christmas break this weekend, went home disappointed after waiting in long queues for several hours.

In Lagos for example, angry customers desperate for cash turned the heat on bank workers in some parts of the city, mounting repeated pressure on them to provide them with money.

At the Iyana Ipaja branch of a new generation commercial bank, enraged customers nearly beat up a bank worker, who ignored their queries for explanation following the failure of the three ATMs within the bank premises to dispense cash.

One of our correspondents, who visited the area around 12:00 noon on Friday, witnessed the ugly scenario. Six ATMs in three other banks within the neighbourhood also failed to dispense cash.

In the Ketu and Mile 12 areas of the city on Friday morning, only two ATMs inside a branch of an old generation bank at Kosofe bus-stop dispensed cash.

The development led to a very long queue in the bank’s premises for most part of the day, while a large crowd of desperate customers also besieged its main banking hall.

A middle-aged man, who stormed the bank around 10:30am, begged others in the queue to be allowed to use the machine as according to him, he had been trying to get cash all the way from Ikorodu following an emergency he had on his hands.

“Please my dear people, kindly allow me to use the machine, I have an emergency case at hand, I came all the way from Ikorodu to this place, no ATM was working in all the banks I visited at Agric, Garage and Ebutte. Please, I am begging you,” the customer was heard saying by one of our correspondents, who was there at the time.

The man was later allowed to use the machine by those he had met at the place after repeated pleas from him.

At the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s Redemption Camp along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Friday, bank customers were also left frustrated as they moved from bank to bank in a desperate attempt to lay their hands on cash via the ATMs.

The situation inside the banking halls was not different either, as customers waited in endless queues without any hope of getting cash.

In Abeokuta, Ogun State, many commercial banks had to deal with a large turnout of customers, most of whom were there to make withdrawals.

The ATM points of many of the commercial banks were dotted with long queues of customers from as early as 7am.

The customers had one complaint or the other about the ATM services in the banks. Some of them said the network was slow, while others said the ATMs could only dispense N5,000 instead of N20, 000 at a time.