Mob attacks: Banks shut branches as Naira scarcity crisis worsens nationwide

…Branch managers lament new note supply shortage

…Banks scant of cash deposit

…EFCC arrests operations manager of bank for hoarding N29m

…CBN threatens Sterling Bank for allegedly hoarding new Naira notes

…Mans State branches with heavy security presence

…Court stops CBN from shifting deadline, as three APC States drag Buhari’s govt to court

…New Naira Notes scarcity: Police warn mischief makers

By Seun Ibiyemi

Following  several attacks on banks and vandalisation of properties within their premises across the Country, head offices of banks have directed their branches to shut down banking halls operations except for urgent cases.

This is even as branch managers of banks complained of new Naira notes supply shortage.

Efforts by staff of Nigerian NewsDirect to withdraw cash from five banks proved abortive. The managers complained that there was no allocation of New Naira from the Head office. He complained that staff resumed work with no operation awaiting arrival of New Naira notes from the Head office. He lamented that there was no cash deposit also from customers which paralysed operations of the bank.

Investigation by Nigerian NewsDirect shows that in Lagos, several branches of First Bank, United Bank of Africa, GT Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Wema, Fidelity, Sterling, Providus, Citibank  banks, shut banking halls and opened only for Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), as customers coming for cash transactions and transfer on counter were not allowed into the premises

On Monday, cars and properties of a First Generation Bank parked were vandalised at Sango-Ota in Ogun State. Also at Abule Egba in Lagos State, customers of  a first generation bank attacked female officials of the bank on demand for N50,000 and could only receive N2,000.

Recall that since citizens began to face frustration from getting withdrawals from their banks, customers have begun to take aggressive actions at the counters and cubicle of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), a development that led some banks beefing up their premises with more security personnel.

The aggression over the weekend recorded attacks in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital where the facility of a Wema Bank was vandalised by irate mob, while in Benin, at the University of Benin there was a face off between students and military men over withdrawals at the ATM, a development that led to vandalism.

Investigation on Monday revealed presence of heavy security personnel at the Oke Ilewo area of Abeokuta, the host Community of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Ogun state branch.

In the early hours of Monday, Ogun CBN and its environs woke to witness the presence of heavily deployed security operatives to man the Apex bank branch for fear of possible attacks by angry mob.

It was gathered that there was an intelligence report that some individuals might attack the bank over their inability to access the newly redesigned Naira notes.

It was reported that heavy armed policemen were positioned at strategic locations to prevent any breakdown of law and order.

There was also report that, some commercial banks in Abeokuta restricted access to their premises over the fear of being attacked by angry customers.

In most banks, customers were only allowed to use ATMs instead of going into the banking halls.

In breaking of events, there were reports of rampage attacks recorded in Ibadan, Oyo, a neighbouring State and other parts of the Country.

While, customers are still in queues waiting to withdraw money from ATMs with limited success, the anger and frustration of customers continue to grow.

Visibility report shows that the scarcity of the new Naira notes continue to bite harder in Ogun State and drastically affected businesses and other activities in the State.

EFCC arrests operations manager of bank for hoarding N29m

Despite denial of banks hoarding new Naira notes, Operations Manager of a leading Commercial bank in Abuja Central Area was on Monday arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC) for refusing to load the ATMs of the bank, despite having N29million of the redesigned Naira notes in the branch’s vaults.

In a series of tweets via its official Twitter handle on Monday, the EFCC stated that, “Before the Operations Manager was whisked away for further questioning, the EFCC operatives ordered the loading of all the ATMs and the payment of the stipulated amount across the counter to the delight of the distraught customers who had spent hours in queues without getting the new notes.

“This discovery, which indicates a sabotage of the government’s monetary policy by some banks, was made by the EFCC in continuation of the ongoing surveillance and visit to banks across the country to access their vaults and verify whether they were deliberately refusing to dispense the redesigned Naira notes.

“More than five bank branches were covered on Monday by the EFCC operatives in Abuja. Similar exercises are ongoing in Zonal Commands across the country.

“The operation will continue until normalcy is restored to the banking system.

“Nigerians finding it difficult to access their funds at any bank and suspects foul play should contact the commission, for immediate intervention.”

CBN threatens Sterling Bank for allegedly hoarding new Naira notes

Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has threatened to fine Sterling Bank Plc for hoarding the new Naira notes made available to the financial institutions for public disbursement.

According to the Deputy Director of the CBN, Oluwole Owoeye, about N6 million was found hoarded in the Sterling Bank branch located in Ado-Ekiti, with the firm’s ATM empty.

This was disclosed in a trending video seen on Monday.

Owoeye said Sterling Bank had been informed of the N1 million penalty.

Recall that deposit money banks (DMBs) had been accused by the CBN and President Muhammadu Buhari of sabotaging the transition from the old Naira to new banknotes.

“I am currently at Sterling Bank, on Bank Road as part of the new Naira notes monitoring compliance with the guidelines by CBN. They have N6 million, which they collected from the bank for almost two weeks, they have not disbursed any.

“They said they are yet to configure their ATMs. I do not know why that and I have brought attention to the penalty clause of N1 million per day, because they have five ATMs here, they have no reason for keeping this money.

“The zonal service manager, Tunde Onipede promised that by 10:00am latest tomorrow (Monday), because I told him by latest 10:00am I’ll be here and I want to see the machine dispensing this money,” the CBN official said in the video.

Reacting, Ademola Adesina, Public Relations and News Management officer for Sterling Bank, admitted that the said funds were with the bank, but claimed that it was in N200 denominations, and that the ATM machines at that branch had not been configured to dispense N200 notes.

He further stated that “at the time of the visit, the subsisting instruction was that the newly designed notes were not to be dispensed over the counter.”

He said however, that, “All denominations can now be withdrawn from our ATMs and over the counter in line with regulatory pronouncement on February 2, 2023.

“We hereby confidently assure the public that the branch was not hoarding any funds.”

Court stops CBN from shifting deadline

Hours after three State governors took President Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN to court over the February 10 deadline for the expiration of old Naira notes, another court has added a twist to the issue by giving a contrary order.

Justice Eneojo Eneche of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Monday, ordered the CBN and President Buhari and 27 commercial banks not to change the February 10 date.

In a motion by five political parties, the court also granted an order directing the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the banks, to show cause why  they should not be arrested and prosecuted for the alleged financial sabotage of the country, by illegally hoarding and not disbursing the new N200, N500, and N1000 bank notes, despite supply of such notes by the apex bank.

Group says CBN Naira policy will tackle vote-buying

A Pro Nigeria Group (PNG) on Monday threw its weight behind the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Naira redesign policy, saying it will curb vote-buying in the country.

Spokesperson of the Group, Isaac Balami, said this while addressing journalists at a mega solidarity walk in support of the CBN Naira redesign policy organised by PNG.

Balami said the PNG’s solidarity walk for CBN was to address issues around the money policy, a good initiative that was being sabotaged by some people.

He said, “Politicians are playing politics to blackmail CBN and the President to go back on their words.

“We are here to support the policy because we know this issue of new money policy will help to stop vote buying.

“The issue of vote buying is a major problem. It has destroyed Nigeria; so enough is enough.

“We are aware that the CBN has released money to all the banks but politicians are buying this money at a higher rate as black market, thereby frustrating citizens to go against CBN and the government.”

Balami said that the group was aware of sufferings of Nigerians and appealed to them to be patient and endure the stress for future benefit.

“We are saying no to vote buying, if you want to buy votes transfer the money and CBN will trace you.

“We have seen videos of banks hoarding money and we urge CBN to do the needful and monitor banks.

“CBN should activate all machineries and use the relevant agencies to force the bank to pay Nigerians their money.”

Responding, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, Director, CBN Corporate Communications Department, commended the group for conducting peaceful rally to its office to discuss their concerns.

Nwanisobi said that CBN was committed to delivering people centred policies.

He said,  “When the present Governor assumes duty, he made it clear that he will lead a people centred CBN and that its policies would affect the lives of Nigerians positively and that is what we are doing.

“If you see what has happened with this Naira redesign, a situation where you have N2.7 trillion outside of the banking system does not augur well for the Nigerian economy and that is the major reason for this Naira redesign.

“It is to ensure the money comes back within the banking sector so that we will be able to control the money in the system and also make out monetary policy very effective.”

Nwanisobi said that CBN is fully persuaded that what it is doing is for the benefit of Nigerians and does not have a political undertone.

He said that CBN was working to ensure that the new Naira notes circulate across the country and pleaded with Nigerians to be a little patient because the process would favour them in the long run.

Naira scarcity: Three APC States drag Buhari’s Govt to court

Meanwhile, three All Progressives Congress (APC) ruling State governments have dragged the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari to court over the Naira Redesign Policy that has led to a biting cash crunch in the country.

The three states – Zamfara, Kaduna, and Kogi in a motion ex-parte filed before the supreme court, seek for an interim injunction stopping the CBN from ending the timeframe within which the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes will cease to be legal tender.

The Plaintiffs in the suit are the three Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice of the three states, while the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), is the sole Respondent.

The Plaintiffs said that since the announcement of the new Naira note policy, there has been an acute shortage in the supply of the new notes in Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States and that citizens who have dutifully deposited their old Naira notes have increasingly found it difficult and sometimes next to impossible to access new notes to go about their daily activities.

They also cited the inadequacy of the notice coupled with the haphazard manner in which the exercise is being carried out and the attendant hardship same is wrecking on Nigerians, which has been well acknowledged even by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The Plaintiffs further maintained that the 10-day extension by the Federal Government is still insufficient to address the challenges bedeviling the policy.

New Naira Notes scarcity: Police warn mischief makers

The Lagos State Police Command has uncovered plans by some groups of persons to take advantage of the new Naira notes scarcity to unleash violence in some parts of the State.

The Command hereby warns these groups to shelve their planned violence or have the full weight of the law to contend with.

Lagos State residents and visitors are enjoined not to panic as the Police, in conjunction with other security agencies, embark on confidence-building patrols across the Lagos metropolis.

In the meantime, all law-abiding Lagosians are encouraged to go about their lawful duties without any fear of harassment or intimidation as the Command has ensured optimal deployment of human and operations resources towards guaranteeing their safety and security.