Bank customers in Satellite towns of the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Saturday have a sigh of relief as they withdrawn cash from ATM machines seamlessly after a long time of experiencing scarcity of cash.
The ease in cash withdrawal followed the Central Bank governor’s directive that Commercial retailing banks should open for business throughout the weekend.
The large turnout of customers across banks, which include, Zenith, Fidelity, Polaris, UBA, Sterling, Wema and many others suggested a substantial compliance with the CBN governor’s directive.
Customers could be seen in joyous mood on queues taking turns to withdraw money from ATM machines.
Some were heard by our correspondent discussing their experiences throughout the period of scarcity of banknotes across the nation and they prayed and wished never to witness such harrowing experiences again.
Apart from the Automated Tellers Machines usually located outside which customers were having ease in money withdrawal, banks halls were all opened and bank officials attended to customers normally like any working day.
Mrs Ngozi Ugoh, a customer at Access Bank, said although she did not know about the CBN directive, she entered to get some cash when she saw a large crowd in her bank.
”I didn’t know about the directive of opening at weekends but I was just passing by and saw people so I entered to see if I can get some cash,” she said.
Another customer, Mr Andy Jerry seen at Zenith Bank, who welcomed the development, said banks were complying with the CBN directive to work during the weekend to shelve the planned protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
CAPITAL POST reported that following the Central Bank’s directive to Commercial Banks to open shop, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele promised to personally lead a team to monitor operations throughout the weekend.
While some customers who spoke with our correspondent lauded the apex bank for taking the step, few others opined that the directive was to stop the Nigeria Labour Congress from the planned nationwide strike.
