By Wole MOSADOMI, Minna
As you read this piece,  thAs yurbed and confused. Many are  still struggling to beat the deadline of updating their accounts in various banks across the country, while others are  jostling at different Glo or MTN centres to beat the deadline of registering their lines.

But the more agonising appears to be the directive recently issued through the electronic media and text messages for people to update their bank accounts. The few Nigerians who have access to electricity could count themselves  lucky as they acted swiftly on the information.

In Minna the Niger State capital, most residents got a wind of the directive less than a week ago. The message soon circulated to all nooks and crannies of the town which eventually led to overcrowding of all commercial banks in the town in the past five days.

But it would appear that most of the banks were not prepared for the  surge that the directive was expected to engender and so could barely cope with the situation. As a result their services in respect of this left much to be desired.

In all banks visited by our correspondent in Minna, anger, anguish and sadness were boldly written on the faces of the customers as they experienced frustration at every stage of their transactions. For instance,  the basic form  required by a customer to register was scarce in most banks, thereby forcing customers to rush to make photocopies.

Scenes of confusion at the gates of some banks after they refused to open to their customers

Most banks became scenes of confusion as customers were tossed from one desk to the other to either pick forms that were not there or to submit to bank officials that were not even on seat most times.

To make the situation worse, no commercial bank had ever shut its gate against customers in Minna as early as 1:00pm any day, but last Friday, it happened. Business stopped at exactly 1pm in some banks that day, leaving customers who had stormed the banks to make withdrawals stranded as the gates were shut against them without prior notice.

To the desperate customers who wanted to make withdrawals for the New Year, it was unbelievable but it later became real that they would not be able to access their money. The premises of most of these banks became rowdy without anybody attending to them as tension mounted.

A gate man in one of the banks in response to the situation simply told our correspondent that “the directive is from above and we  will only re-open by Tuesday next week”.

What a field day for touts

ThE chaotic situation witnessed in the banks was an opportunity for touts to make hay as cashed in on it to defraud customers.

They quickly rushed to nearby business centres to photocopy the forms which they sold to desperate customers at between N50 and N100. In the cause of this, one of the touts printed fake forms and sold to the unsuspecting customers at exorbitant rate and disappeared from the banking premises immediately.

Some of the confused customers who spoke with our correspondent described the directive as unthinkable.
According to Mohammed Shehu: “It is always surprising how our leaders treat us like this. How do they expect millions of Nigerians to conclude this upgrading even within one month. I want to see what will happen to those who cannot complete this exercise by the deadline given”.

Another customer who  was approached by Vanguard Metro reacted almost angrily as he expressed  disappointment over his inability to obtain the form, submit and even withdraw some money. “You are part of them; please get out from my sight; just see what you people are doing to us, see the time wasted and at the end of the day, nothing to show for it.  God will surely judge,” he stated heatedly.

But as soon as our correspondent identified himself, the fellow had pleaded thus: “Please help us tell the Federal Government and others involved in this type of directive that they should always treat their subjects like human beings and not like animals”.

On her part, one Mrs. Clara Okafor simply said: “You can imagine the situation yourself. It is absolutely nonsense. When most of us are supposed to be engaging ourselves on how to keep our homes and prepare for the New Year, we are here wasting our time in the banks and with some unfortunately ending up not able to withdraw their money or even get the relevant forms. We hope that one day, this type of animalistic behaviour will not backfire in this country”.

Many others who spoke with our correspondent called on “whoever have given the directive to consider the situation we are facing and deal with us maturely and with respect by extending the deadline”.

Indeed, most Nigerians had travelled out of their abodes to other parts of the country to celebrate the Christmas and New Year and so were oblivious of the new development. And the question many could not help asking was,  how  would they meet up with that Friday deadline?

Most of the branch managers approached to comment on the development refused to speak. Some those who  reacted simply said: “We are only carrying out an order from the above”. One of them who went a step further but insisted on anonymity gave a cheering news by saying: “With this development, it is possible to extend the closing date to upgrade but that will certainly be after the public holidays”.

He was, however, silent over the closure of the bank at the unregulated time, especially when customers were even clamouring for extension of closing hours to enable them conclude their transactions.

The panic rush by customers to upgrade their various accounts wasw certainly an experience to forget. It made transactions at most banks an  agonizing and strenuous experience, especially for those who operate two, three or more bank accounts.