Fuel Strikes: ATMs Pay N30bn to Customers
- By Udo Onyeka
- Published January 23rd, 2012
- News
- Unrated
As much as N30 billion may have been paid by banks through their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) within the first four days of the protests over the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government, BusinessWorld Intelligence can now reveal.
Further investigations also reveal that banks may have equally made a killing from the withdrawals as their service charges were paid automatically. Banking sector sources reveal that each ATM takes as much as N3 million which is usually dispensed within two days under normal conditions.
BusinessWorld Intelligence can also reveal that some banks were restocking their ATMs within the protest period with cash collections from some clients since they could not undertake normal banking activities.
Bankers attributed the fast depletion of cash in the ATM pools to panic withdrawals occasioned by the fears that the protest may snowball into a full-blown crisis which may call for high cash needs. Investigations also indicated that many clients came back to the banks with huge deposits immediately the banks returned to work, indicating that much of the withdrawals were really for the sake of an unknown development if the strike persisted. The labour unions had mobilized Nigerians to embark on the strike to press for the reduction of petrol pump price, which was increased from N65 to N140. Even though the industrial action has ended and the federal government now fixed the price of petrol at N97, banks were obviously caught unawares as the vaults of some banks were almost empty as customers, with their ATM cards, attempted clearing their accounts as the strike lingered.
BusinessWorld gathered that about 9,600 ATMs located in Lagos with each of them fully loaded as at Sunday, a day to the commencement of the strike that lasted six days, it is evident that all the ATM would have paid over N30 billion to bank customers during the strike.
In fact bank customers would have withdrawn more money if not that after the first four days of the strike all the ATMs had been emptied as desperate subscribers swoop on the machines. This made it impossible for other subscribers who wanted to withdraw money with their ATM cards after the first four days.
The strike, BusinessWorld investigations reveal, exposed the banks’ unpreparedness towards the cashless project. Apart from not giving the customers their money during the crisis time when they needed cash, the crisis also revealed that more ATMs are needed in the country. It has become worrisome that even before the commencement of the cashless Lagos this January, the target given to banks and Independent Automated Deplorers (IAD) by the CBN was no met.
Mr. Lamido Sanusi, CBN governor, had disclosed in 2010 that the apex bank would embark on an economic drive to increase the nation’s POS penetration, using Brazil as a bench mark, by deploying 2,200 POS machines for 100,000 persons by 2015. He said the CBN has resolved to modernise the payment system to fast-track the nation’s economy, especially creating a cashless one consistent with global trend and in line with the transformation agenda of the federal government.
“We have the target of deploying 150,000 POS at the end of December 2012 which should be increased to 335,000 POS by the end of December 2015.
“Currently, we have 13 POS for 100,000 adults and hope to attain our bench mark”.
Further investigations also reveal that banks may have equally made a killing from the withdrawals as their service charges were paid automatically. Banking sector sources reveal that each ATM takes as much as N3 million which is usually dispensed within two days under normal conditions.
BusinessWorld Intelligence can also reveal that some banks were restocking their ATMs within the protest period with cash collections from some clients since they could not undertake normal banking activities.
Bankers attributed the fast depletion of cash in the ATM pools to panic withdrawals occasioned by the fears that the protest may snowball into a full-blown crisis which may call for high cash needs. Investigations also indicated that many clients came back to the banks with huge deposits immediately the banks returned to work, indicating that much of the withdrawals were really for the sake of an unknown development if the strike persisted. The labour unions had mobilized Nigerians to embark on the strike to press for the reduction of petrol pump price, which was increased from N65 to N140. Even though the industrial action has ended and the federal government now fixed the price of petrol at N97, banks were obviously caught unawares as the vaults of some banks were almost empty as customers, with their ATM cards, attempted clearing their accounts as the strike lingered.
BusinessWorld gathered that about 9,600 ATMs located in Lagos with each of them fully loaded as at Sunday, a day to the commencement of the strike that lasted six days, it is evident that all the ATM would have paid over N30 billion to bank customers during the strike.
In fact bank customers would have withdrawn more money if not that after the first four days of the strike all the ATMs had been emptied as desperate subscribers swoop on the machines. This made it impossible for other subscribers who wanted to withdraw money with their ATM cards after the first four days.
The strike, BusinessWorld investigations reveal, exposed the banks’ unpreparedness towards the cashless project. Apart from not giving the customers their money during the crisis time when they needed cash, the crisis also revealed that more ATMs are needed in the country. It has become worrisome that even before the commencement of the cashless Lagos this January, the target given to banks and Independent Automated Deplorers (IAD) by the CBN was no met.
Mr. Lamido Sanusi, CBN governor, had disclosed in 2010 that the apex bank would embark on an economic drive to increase the nation’s POS penetration, using Brazil as a bench mark, by deploying 2,200 POS machines for 100,000 persons by 2015. He said the CBN has resolved to modernise the payment system to fast-track the nation’s economy, especially creating a cashless one consistent with global trend and in line with the transformation agenda of the federal government.
“We have the target of deploying 150,000 POS at the end of December 2012 which should be increased to 335,000 POS by the end of December 2015.
“Currently, we have 13 POS for 100,000 adults and hope to attain our bench mark”.
