Katsina traders reject old naira notes

Many bank customers in Katsina State, on Monday, suffered delays before being attended to following pressure by some of them who wanted to change their old naira notes for new ones.

The development also coincided with the decision of some traders and commercial cyclists who had started rejecting the old naira notes from customers.

The upsurge in the number of customers experienced by the banks on Monday made some of them (the banks) lock out their customers while some banks also sought the assistance of law enforcement operatives to restore sanity.

A bank customer, Hadiza Hamza, said she was in one of the banks located along Kofar Kaoran road to obtain new ATM  card, adding that the unruly attitude of some of the customers prevented her from being attended to till later in the afternoon despite being in the bank since 8.30 a.m.

She said “I arrived here at 8.30 in the morning but the inability of the bank officials to control the customers prevented the officials from attending to me until 1.30p.m. Those who came to swap their old naira notes for the new ones caused the problem.’’

Another customer, Hassan Hamisu said he was not attended to by his bank which was located along Fadama area, also in the state capital, until about 3p.m due to the large number of customers who thronged there.

Hamisu said, ‘I was not supposed to stay in the bank for more than 30 minutes for the transaction I went there for. Initially, we were not allowed into the premises of the bank because of the unruly behaviour of some of the customers.

“Later, the police and members of the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps were called to regulate the number of customers allowed inside. That was when I was able to enter the banking hall and carried out my transaction. But what I observed was that the problem was caused by some of the bank’s customers who were there to change their old notes for new ones.”

All the banks’ officials approached for comments declined, referring enquiries to their headquarters that were either in Lagos or Abuja.

Meanwhile, traders, food vendors and commercial cyclists in katsina had started rejecting the old naira notes.

They hinged their action on the problems they allegedly encountered in banks while trying to get the new naira notes.

(The PUNCH)