Emeka Aginam

Just as temporary normalcy returned Monday afternoon after suspension of the nationwide  strike by labour and civil society groups across the nation, Nigerians are still counting their losses due to network failure and shortage of cash at automated teller machines,  especially in commercial centres where the technology has been fully deployed.

Even after calling off the strike by the NLC, people still thronged ATMs in major cities across the nation, especially in Lagos to withdraw money as banks may have refilled their cash points.

Majority of ATMs, according to findings were either out of cash or temporary out off service because of the absence of banks officials to attain to these problems.

It would be recalled that many bank ATM cash points ran out of cash by the weekend, causing a massive cash crisis across the nation during the just suspended strike by the labour leaders.

According to keen observers, banks may have been reluctant to re-load ATMs cash point because of incessant network failures among banks and fear of possible attacks by street urchins who were said to be parading all nooks and crannies of commercial nerve centers for possible prey.

But shortly after the strike was called off by theNLC, Vanguard Hi-Tech findings revealed that people were scampering from one ATMs cash point to another, looking for machines that could discharge cash.

At some ATMs cash points visited in major cities in Lagos, our reporter observed a huge crowd of customers at UBA, Union Bank, First Bank, Oceanic, GTB among others branches in high-brow areas of Ikeja and Maryland.

However, during the strike, a close monitoring of activities at ATMs cash points in many areas of Lagos especially Ikeja and Marry Land showed that people were apprehensive of attacks by hoodlums and street urchins, who were looking for opportunities to strike.

Users on queue at a bank's ATM

Although banks did not open on Monday soon after the strike was called off, there were little economic activities in major parts of Lagos metropolis, as markets suddenly re-opened and commercial vehicles and Okada returned to the roads.

Meanwhile, commercial banks in the major cities of Lagos before the strike witnessed massive patronage as customers rushed to make withdrawal of cash in preparation of the suspended nationwide strike. Following cash crises that ensured during the strike, industry watchers have advised banks on timely response with regard to re_loading money in ATMs especially during crisis or emergency periods as experienced.

“I had to run from one bank to another in attempt to withdraw money during the strike action. Nigerian banks must invest in robust software so as to offer efficient ATMs services,” said Sunday Okoro, a student of University of Lagos. According him, many Nigerians were cash trapped during the strike because at some point, most of the ATM machines ran out of cash.

For Nkem Duru, a market woman at Alade market beside Allen Avenue, it was somehow difficult withdrawing money from ATMs. “Some cash points I visited were not able to dispense cash either on the ground of lack of fund or due to network failure.

“I think Nigerian banks ought to have known what to expect during this kind of strike. They should have made adequate and timely arrangements on how to refill money inside ATMs. They should also have had a standby engineer that should have taken care of network problem. I guess they should learn their lessons from this strike ” she said.

For one thing, more Nigerians have continued to embrace the culture of using ATMS for instant cash withdrawal, even as the number of payment cardholders in Nigeria has reached the 10 million mark.

The Director of Payment and Business Expansion, Interswitch, Mr. Charles Ifedi who disclosed this to newsmen during the commencement of the second edition of the Verve Card national promo held recently noted that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians were registering at the bank branches to obtain Verve cards, on weekly basis, adding that the then Verve promo would play a major role in boosting the number of ATM cards in circulation.

The introduction of the cashless society policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), according Ifedi is also encouraging bank customers to pick up Verve card at the point of opening their bank accounts.

Meanwhile, the apex bank had set in motion steps to encourage the banking public to use electronic payment solutions such as automated teller machines, PoS terminals, web banking, telephone banking and mobile money transfer to reduce cash in circulation.

The first phase of the policy had already commenced in Lagos this month. The temporary adaptation to the use of ATM card as an alternative and faster means of withdrawing instant cash has grown to appreciable level among Nigerians where even market women and artisans are now getting familiar with the service.

The new technology is seen as bail out option having reduced the number of customers at the banking hall, thereby making Nigeria a cashless economy.