By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja
The scramble for elusive new naira notes by bank customers in Lokoja, Kogi State took precedence over the celebration of Valentine Day( February 14) on Tuesday as virtually all of them shun comment on the aged long event.
According to Google, Valentine Day
originated as a Christian feast day, honoring a martyr named Valentine.
It added that through traditions, the day became a significant cultural and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.
Britannica further expantiates on the event by identifying it as a Day when lovers express their affection with greetings and gifts, among other things.
However, most of the customers in Lokoja, whose views were sought on the issue by our Correspondent in various banks while monitoring how people are coping with the effects of scarcity of new naira notes,shun comments.
Miss Bridget Abimiku, a resident of Lafia in Nasarawa state but visiting her sister in Lokoja but got trapped by the complexity of scarcity of naira told The Reporters that this years Valentine was not worth celebrating.
“What’s worth celebrating on Valentine day when most Nigerians, especially youths who constitute the majority of population to mark the day, are complaining of being traumatised by the scarcity of naira.
” I have been on queue in this bank for more than five hours in dire need to withdraw my money to execute some activities with no hope of seeing the end of the problem and somebody is asking me of my feeling about Valentine Day? she queried.
“I would rather intensify prayer so that I can withdraw N 5,000 to buy food and meet other basic needs to keep life going. May be next, year all things being equal, I will have positive comment to make on Valentine Day,” she added.
Abimiku’s reaction to the Day reflects the comments of other customers in other banks our Correspondent visited, as they all declined making comments when approached.
Our Correspondent,who also visited some relaxation spots in Lokoja,to have the feeling of youths towards the event,observed dull moment as operators of such place complained of lack of customers, citing cash crunch emanating from the scarcity of new naira.
The online publication also observed that bank customers continued to pass through difficulties in their efforts to access their money in the bank on Tuesday.
At the First bank, Ganaja junction, Lokoja, the bank allowed to withdraw N10,000 on ATM but overwhelmed by large crowd numbering over 400.
The elderly and the young at heart who could not withstand the rigour of standing on long queue for hours and went inside the bank to withdraw money at counter were surprised as they were told that they could not withdraw beyond N2,000, citing lack of money from the Central Bank of Nigeia, CBN.
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At JAIZ bank also in Lokoja, our Correspondent reports that the bank dispensed N10,000 of the the new notes at the ATM but N100 at the counter.
As a result, customers who withdrew money at the counter had to check their money to remove tattered notes
and redeposited them to their account before leaving the bank.
Lack of the new naira notes also featured prominently at the bank.
However,it appears that bank customers in Lokoja need to thank their star as situation in Lagos is said to be more serious.
In a statement made available to The Reporters on Monday on the issue, a Lagos residentsl, Fatai Tunde said:” It is not funny.
“”I went to a bank on Thursday and wasted two hours inside bank only for them to tell us that they could only pay us N1,000.This is inspite the fact that we were about 30 customers on the queue.
“Later, they came back to say that only 5 persons would be attended to, because they had N5,000 left. I was the 5th person on the queue. In fact, they wrote the serial number of the notes paid out on the teller.”
Many customers who spoke with our Correspondent stressed the need for the Apex Bank to increase the supply of the new naira notes to commercial banks to ease the agony of Nigerians, especially the poor.
