Lokoja
Bank customers in Lokoja and its environs in kogi state, in their hundreds, now troop to such financial institutions as early as 5a.m to take queue for business as banks introduce Coronavirus induced protocols to check the spread of the pandermic disease to the state.
A correspondent of Duaglobalnews, online publication,who went round some banks in Lokoja in the early hours of Monday reports that many of such customers were spotted in long queues to either save money and open account among other services rendered by banks
A customer, Hajia Amina Mohammed, told our correspondent that that she went to First Bank as early as 5 a.m to lodge money, she was number 40 on the line.
Banks in Nigeria open for normal business as from 8.m.
She said:”Only God knows when I will leave this bank today.
“It is not easy for bank customers now adays, is like camel passing through the needle’s eye to transact business in the banks as a result of the pandermic Coronavirus ravaging the the world today.
” I pray almighty Allah to help humanity survive this terrible disease, sooner than later,so that normalcy can return to banks and other aspects of our lives, and for this endless wait to transact business with banks comes to an end.
Duaglobalnews investigation revealed that the the agony of customers waiting endlessly to be attended to is worsened by favouritism by some bank officials.
In one the first generation banks, this corrupt practise almost lead to uneasy calm but one of the senior officials other bank quickly stepped in to calm the tense atmosphere and ordered that such negative attitude be stopped forthwith.
One of the middle level officers of the bank who pleaded on anonymity, told the online media outfit that the upsurge in the customer witnessed on Monday in the bank was due to the closure of its offices along Murtala Mohammed road and Ajaokuta in Lokoja.
Meanwhile, controversy has continued to define the presence or otherwise of COVID-19 in the state.”
While the state government maintains that the state has no Coronavirus case, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in one of its publications of index cases in the country disclosed two cases in the state.
However, the state government said it had put in place a committee headed by the Deputy Governor Edward Onoja on coronavirus issues and established an Isolation centre in Lokoja.
It added that it had ensured that public media institutions play jingles on regular basis,to educate the people on how they can avoid contracting the virus, among other preventive measures against the dreaded disease.
Globally, the numbers of Coronavirus has hit 6.1 million cases and above, including at least 371,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University as at the time of this report.
