New allegations regarding bank officials have been made by some Point of Sale (PoS) operators.
They asserted that bank staff sell them cash both old and new naira notes.
Some of the operators claimed in separate interviews with NAN on Friday in Abuja that they pay an outrageous fee that is based on the amount withdrawn.
They explained that they were forced to raise client fees in order to cover the additional cost.
They also urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to punish the offending banks.
A vendor on the Nyanya-NNPC route, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that she paid the additional fee to maintain her business.
”I paid a very high amount to get this money that I am giving to customers. If you look around here, other operators did not open,” she said.
”The woman (bank official) that I collect money from even increased the money today because she said that cash is scarce and she kept it for me because I called her earlier to do so.
”I pay according to the amount I collect. Sometimes, I pay as high as N5,000 for N50,000 to N70,000 that I collect from her.
”I charge N500 for every N5,000 withdrawn and N1000 for every N10000 withdrawn for me to recover what I spent to collect the money.”
Nnedi Ikonye, a PoS operator along Lugbe, also said she paid N3,000 for withdrawing N65,000 in a bank.
”I was asked to pay N3,000 for the N65,000 that I withdrew from a bank and that is because I know someone in that bank,” Ikonye explained.
“That is just a token compared to what my colleagues are paying. They pay more because they don’t know people in the bank.”
Alphonsus Idah, a PoS operator at the Mararaba market, pleaded with the CBN to implement fines on banks that continue to sell cash to their clients.
This, he said, would put an end to the indescribable suffering endured by citizens.
Another PoS operator claimed that bank staff frequently make withdrawals on behalf of their clients.
“In some banks, ATM will not work even though they are loaded with cash,” the operator said.
“During close of work, the bankers will turn the machine on and queue to withdraw from the machine.
“The annoying thing is that one banker can hold like 10 different ATM cards and will withdraw from all of them. This is frustrating.”
The CBN had instructed banks to start paying out redesigned notes over the counter with a daily limit of N20,000 in an effort to reduce long lines at automated teller machines (ATMs).