Naira scarcity: Fear grips bank officials as anti-grant agencies, mob intensify actions

Nigeria’s currency crisis has taken a new twist as some commercial banks shut down their operations on Monday over possible mob attacks from frustrated customers.

Also, financial experts disclosed that the ongoing crisis is self-inflicted.

For the past weeks, Nigerians have suffered from the pain of Naira scarcity.

The crisis might worsen if there is no significant improvement in the supply of the new currency nationwide as the February 10 deadline to phase out the old notes draws closer.

Customers have begun to act aggressively at the counters and cubicles of Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, a development that led some banks to beef up their premises with more security personnel and eventually shut down on Monday.

The aggression over the weekend recorded attacks in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, where the facility of a Wema Bank was vandalised by an angry mob, while at the University of Benin, there was a face-off between students and military men over withdrawals at the ATM, a development that led to vandalism