Some ATM Machines in Lafia Are Unable to Dispense Cash

By Yusuf Usman

Over Ninety percent of the Automated Teller Machines ATM within Lafia the Nasarawa state capital have been unable to dispense cash to customers throughout Saturday barely two days to deadline of deposit of the old naira notes..

There are Fifteen functional commercial banks in lafia metropolitan.

Most of the banks visited by Radio Nigeria across lafia, showed long queue of customers behind the few functional ATM points in some of the banks.

While Inside the banking hall of most of the banks, only a finger count of customers could be seen at the counters to deposit old naira notes.

Speaking to Radio Nigeria,some of the bank customers at ATM points said they have been waiting for hours since in the morning to withdraw money without success.

Most of them expressed dismay with the exorbitant charges fixed by POS operators for withdrawal .

At ATM galleries of ACCESS bank,UBA,GTB ,UNION and ZENITH bank branches within lafia, none of them were dispensing cash.

Only Stanbic Ibtc, ECO bank ,FIRST Bank, FIDELITY and FCMB,ATM were dispensing cash to customers.

Speaking with Radio Nigeria, heads of operation in some of the banks said they have exhausted all the new naira notes in their vault and their officials have been at the CBN lafia branch to get the redesigned notes.

The bank officials were however optimistic that by Sunday,the ATM machines would be loaded and customer’s can withdraw without stress.

Meanwhile the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN have blamed commercial banks for not meeting the deposit target set for old naira notes before getting the new ones from the apex bank.

CBN Director of security services, Atiku Mohammad attributed the slow circulation of the redesigned naira notes to failure of banks to woo customers to deposit the old notes since announcement of the policy last year untill the deadline is knocking on the door..

Atiku Mohammad also observed that the failure of the new notes to get down to the rural areas uptill this period was due to inability of banks to give the notes to POS agents to take it to the nooks and cranny of the country.

The CBN Director gave an assurance that additional cash have been provided to banks and the issue of no money in ATM points in all banks would be a thing of the past.