Independence holiday: Massive withdrawals hit banks ATMs

……As customers lament poor services
……Flay over poor network services, dispense errors
Customers of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) operating in the country in their numbers have stormed Automated Teller Machine (ATMs) centers in different locations across the country for massive withdrawal.

This was due to the extended holiday to Monday,(yesterday), which was declared by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the nation’s 57th Independence holiday, Daily Times investigations have revealed.

The holiday rush witnessed on Friday across the banking halls in the country continued over the weekend, and was extended till Monday as banks ATMs and galleries witnessed huge turnout of bank customers who were for massive withdrawal.

Our correspondent who monitored the development observed that customers in their numbers besieged their respective banks to withdraw money from the ATMs for the long holidays, but lamented the challenges they faced in the process.

For instance, some customers who spoke with The Daily Times, said that banks should have known that there is always a rush every weekend, and should have prepared to double what they load in the ATMs because of the extended holiday till Monday due to the independent celebration.

Although, our checks further showed that customers’ experiences were mixed, as some bank customers were delighted that their banks were able to save them at the of need, while others were disappointed for being stranded due to the poor banking network services.

This is coming at a time when virtually all the commercial banks consistently advertise their seamless banking services through other payment system, but depositors in their numbers during the holiday have scored most of the lenders low during the withdrawal rush at the just concluded holiday.

Bank customers, who related their ordeal to our correspondent in separate interviews during the holiday, said that apart from enduring long queues at different ATM points, most of the machines are not dispensing cash, which they said made them stranded during Nigeria’s 57th Independence anniversary.

In fact, many of the customers who were at various bank premises trying to withdraw cash from the ATMs decried poor services, as they were unable to withdraw due to the error message displayed “Unable to dispense cash.”

A visit by our correspondent to most of the ATM centres at the weekend, and during the holiday, showed that there were long queues at most of the ATMs in various parts of Lagos and Ogun states, while inadequate provision of funds in the ATMs formed the major challenges experienced.

“I believed the bank’s management is aware of the usual chaos at ATMs during weekends, holidays or festive periods and ought to have made adequate provision, by ensuring sufficient funds in ATMs, a customer of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) lamented.

Another bank customer, Mrs. Aminat Fadeyi, said: “It is very unfair that the interest of customers is not considered by the banks; and the government should try and look into the matter for the good of the poor masses.”

Our further checks showed that various banks along Ikorodu road in Lagos, where many bank branches were situated, experienced fewer customers on Friday, but returned on Saturday and extended to Monday, when withdrawing at the ATMs became challenging for them, over failure to dispense cash.

A customer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Johnson Echiye, said when he visited the bank earlier on Friday, it was a lot easier to withdraw money, but was surprised on Monday to see a lot of people waiting for their turn to withdraw money from the ATMs.

Another experienced related with our correspondent was the issue of selection of cards by some of the ATM machines, while other bank carriers were not able to withdraw their fund.

However, an Access Bank Customer in Ota Ogun State, who identified herself as Mrs. A. Olujimi, said that her lender saved the day, while commending the bank for what they are doing in the recent time.

“For me, it has been a long time that I had issue of withdrawal with my bank; and as you can see around here in Ota, unlike the other banks in this area that are not dispensing even though not all the machines are currently paying, but there is no time you come here without any of the ATM dispensing cash”, she explained.

Contrary to this, an Ogun based Zenith bank customer, who identified himself as Mr. Chucks, told our correspondent that he regretted not to have withdrew all he would be needing throughout the holiday in Lagos on Friday that he went out because he was not able to withdraw money from the ATM point at Dalemo and Joju in Ogun State.

According to him, the long holiday had virtually left everyone in the festival mood and by bu Sunday, I can tell you that most of the people were already cash-strapped, in addition to the fact that most of the ATMs during the holidays have no cash to dispense.

“Some of us who are business men have been under serious financial stress in the last few days, due to the holidays because virtually all the ATMs in my area had no cash to dispense when I got there on Sunday and the same thing is happening now even though it was better but a whole lot of were also here to withdraw”, Mr. Chucks explained.

At Onipanu, in Lagos, when we visited Ecobank, FirstBank and Zenith Bank in Apata, we observed that there were no forms of malfunctions, as cash withdrawals were seamless in the area.

But in Agege, four banks-Union Bank, Zenith Bank, GTBank and Access Bank- were functional, but there were no long queues, as most of the machines were suspected not to have been loaded, which left just few of machines dispensing money.

DTN investigations further has it that a lot of bank customers who might have spent all they had throughout the holiday, but were planning for today’s resumption triggered the mass customers’ invasion of various banks to withdraw money in preparation for the new busy week, which begins today.