Afrigather Three days after a Supreme Court ruling on Friday upholding the validity of previous banknotes till December 2023, the money shortage Nigerians have skilled since February remains to be ongoing. Many individuals welcomed the Supreme Courtroom judgment as a result of they hoped it will make money instantly out there and cease the queues at financial institution branches. However TechCabal reporters seen queues in any respect main banks throughout Lagos on Monday morning.
A Zenith Financial institution employees advised TechCabal, “The banks can’t act on the Supreme Courtroom ruling as a result of the Central Financial institution, an unbiased physique, controls us. The Central Financial institution has not directed us to align with the Supreme Courtroom’s choice so enterprise will proceed as typical.” The scenario was the identical throughout all of the banks we visited, as business banks usually are not issuing previous notes per the choice of the Supreme Courtroom.
Throughout Lagos, enterprise homeowners additionally proceed to refuse the previous banknotes. Pharmacy homeowners and a few petty merchants advised TechCabal reporters that they might not accumulate previous notes from their prospects as banks wouldn’t settle for them both. Given the money shortage, individuals have resorted to on-line banking by means of USSD and financial institution apps, even the seemingly unlikely individuals within the casual sector. Some individuals advised TechCabal they paid bike males for his or her rides through financial institution switch.
Nevertheless, banks are discovering it difficult to scale their technologies to accommodate the brand new wave of customers. Complaints about failed transactions are flooding social media, and prospects are trooping to banks to resolve transaction issues. They constituted a lot of the queues TechCabal met on the banks.
Entry Financial institution prospects at Surulere advised TechCabal that most individuals who got here to withdraw cash went again residence because the financial institution was neither shelling out banknotes from their ATMs nor over-the-counter. Most of these within the queues had been there to complain to customer support or request ATM playing cards in order that they might make transactions through POS brokers as an alternative of by means of on-line financial institution channels.
Opeyemi, a girl who stated she has used solely Entry Financial institution for a couple of decade, advised TechCabal she was there to get an ATM card she misplaced three years in the past. Since she misplaced her card, she has been utilizing USSD and her financial institution app. Nonetheless, on account of her frequent troubles with on-line channels, she needed to get an ATM card to transact through POS brokers as an alternative.
Regardless of their elevated transaction costs, POS brokers are unlikely heroes of the scenario. And till banks start to re-issue the previous Naira notes in compliance with the Supreme Courtroom judgment, prospects working away from financial institution issues that take longer days to repair will proceed to show to them for banking companies.
