From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Residents of Asaba, Delta State capital have lamented the pain they go through to withdraw money for daily transactions from the various ATM points of commercial banks.
They said though the ATM points were now dispensing the new currency notes of either N1,000 or N500, the withdrawal of N20,000 was grossly inadequate to meet their needs in view of the inflationary cost of commodities.
Our correspondent who monitored the situation, witnessed long queues of customers waiting to withdraw cash from banks’ ATM points.
The cut throat charges by cash vendors who operate POS businesses has also not helped matters, our correspondent observed.
A customer in one of the bank’s ATM, who herself as Rachel Okonkwo lamented that she came to the bank very early on Thursday after her attempt to withdraw failed on Wednesday.
“When I came yesterday (Wednesday) the queue was long, I was given number 308. But before it got to my turn, they said the machine ran out of cash. So most people left disappointed.
“Today (Thursday), I decided to come early because I need cash to go to the market so that I can prepare meal for the family. I thought I was early but I still met people already waiting. I was given number 59.
“But I am happy because I have been able to withdraw money even though it is not up to the amount I intended. At least, we can make something with this one,” she said.
Daily Sun observed that customers who came with debit card of the particular bank made withdrawal limit of N20,000 while those who came with the debit card of another bank had a withdrawal limit of N5,000.
However, some customers came with multiple debit cards which enabled them to circumvent the withdrawal limit rule.
Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report, operators of POS business were smiling to tge banks as customers who could not stand the bearish queues on banks made withdrawals through the POS vendors.
The POS operators were charging customers N2,000 for a withdrawal of N10,000. In some places, the operators charged N1,500.