Some bank customers in Lagos State have expressed concern over the failure of Automated Teller Machines to dispense cash.
They, however, called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to compel commercial banks to urgently address the challenges facing transactions with ATMs, especially at weekends.
A visit to some of the ATM machine points around Ikeja and environs, showed that about 65 per cent of the ATMs had been affected by either poor network connectivity or lack of cash in the system.
A bank customer, Mr. Innocent Agbo, while expressing anger, frustration and anxiety owing to the poor performance of the ATMs, questioned the CBN for encouraging the banking public to use electronic payment system when they could not fix the problems associated with the e-banking.
“Nigerian banks should upgrade their technology for the cashless policy of the Federal Government to meet the demands of the banking public. Banks should arrange for technical staff that will attend to cash shortages or network failures; Nigerians do not deserve this kind of
situation
“I am here to withdraw money for the family needs, but I cannot; it is frustrating indeed. It is sad that we are still experiencing this kind of situation. It is important that the banks deploy robust technologies for e-banking,” said Mrs. Juliana Okeke, a teacher with one of the government colleges in the area.
A civil servant, Mr. Ayomide Oke, narrating his harrowing experiences, said, “Let banks bring in robust technology that will boost the e-banking business to eliminate the embarrassment and frustration that their clients are subjected to, especially during public holidays and
weekends.
“This kind of a thing cannot happen in a developed economy. Nigerian banks lack good customer-care. We do not see the reason banks cannot brace up for this kind of challenge. The Central Bank of Nigeria should also intervene on issues like this; they are the apex regulator, their role is to regulate the banking operations and ensure they don’t deviate from core banking services,” he said.
