Dec 14 (Lagos) - There is virtually no cash available inside banks or ATM's across Lagos. This has become a huge problem for people in Lagos. Over the week, the banking networks faced issues so it was not possible to transfer money to someone and as a result such businesses demanded cash at fuel stations, and to get cash is not possible at the moment. Some people had to leave the filling station without buying fuel because they could not pay them.
The cash issue which emerged ever since the POS business was allowed to flourish across the Country by the CBN. The system encourages corruption as bank managers allegedly set up their own friends and family as POS operators and sell cash to them who then charge 4% in fees and dispense cash to Nigerians. These POS operators are usually found close to bank branches so people can approach them after being turned down from the Bank.
Nigerians have been paying 4% as fees just to withdraw their own money from their bank accounts. These are people with low paying jobs like road sweepers, gatemen, house-girls, drivers, factory workers among others. People are already feeling the biting inflation but have to buy money from these POS operators.
Some strong-willed Nigerians who refuse to accept this so called 'business model' are made to write written letters requesting cash for as low as N 100,000 before the bank manager releases cash notes to them. It is almost like a favor that the Bank is doing by releasing money to their customers. The customer feels like a HERO having won the battle and withdrawn some cash from the Bank, even get hailed by other people in the Bank.
In case you forgot, we are talking about Naira here, our own currency, and not some foreign currency that ought to be scarce.
The mainstream media fails to cover this problem as most of their revenue comes from advertisements from these same Banks. If at all, they write articles spinning the problem as if these POS operators are solving a convenience problems for Nigerians by charging them 4% fee to access their own cash.
The buck stocks at the desk of the CBN Governor. The CBN is responsible for making cash available to people and definitely they are currently failing at that. They started an investigation into this problem one year ago but we never heard any outcome of that investigation. What we did get is a list of phone number and emails of CBN branches state-wide where we should report any cash shortages at any Bank.
The process of reporting these shortages is so long and cumbersome, that almost no one will end up reporting these cases. I for one don't even remember the CBN branches phone number or email address where I am to report this problem.
What the CBN needs to do is put a sign outside every Bank branch with the phone number and email where we can report this problem or even better to have a twitter (now called X) handle where people can report these problem in real time.
As things stand, CBN has let us down and is letting us down on a daily basis. All this suffering that low wage earners are having to go through to access their cash is directly on the CBN.
This is the sorry state of consumer Banking the Country at the moment.