An octogenarian customer of United Bank for Africa (UBA) lost his cool and slammed staff at one of the bank’s branches in Nigeria over his inability to make an over-the-counter cash withdrawal.
A video of the incident circulated on social media on Friday, although the particular branch could not be immediately confirmed.
In the video, the elderly customer said he was 82 and had been banking with UBA since 1971.
He said he had been at the bank all day and bank workers were frustrating his effort to withdraw cash to be able to feed himself.
The man who spoke partly in English and Igbo said the bank workers’ action was reprehensible.
“How many years am I? 82 good years. You people should pray to reach my age. 82 good years! You people don’t want to give me my money for me to eat.
“1971, I started for this UBA. They were making announcement. I was telling people…”
Watch video:
UBA staff don collect stray.
No money in circulation. Hardship is much. pic.twitter.com/FyrqTkTR7Q
— Mo-Mo💙 (@Morris_Monye) February 3, 2023
The Herald can report that many Nigerians have been experiencing difficulty in withdrawing cash at Automated Teller Machine (ATM) points and over-the-counter due to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s policy replacing high-value denomination notes in circulation.
The CBN initially announced that old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes would cease to be legal tender by January 31, 2023, but extended the deadline to February 10, 2023, due to backlash from the public, who complained that redesigned notes were in short supply.
On Friday, governors elected on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) visited President Muhammadu Buhari to appeal to him to prevail on the apex bank to allow old and redesigned naira notes to co-exist until December 2023.
The president promised to announce a major decision on the currency swap policy before the February 10 deadline.