Pressures were mounted on the variousAutomated Teller Machine (ATM) locationsin Lagos, on Tuesday, as a result of the two-day Eid el-Fitr publicholiday declared by the Federal Government.
At several ATM outlets visited, there were long queues of customers making withdrawals, apparently to meet the demand of the celebrations. However, the influx of customers was recorded in the suburbs which were mostly residential and populated by the muslims, while the various outlets on Lagos Island were bereft of the usual traffic.
At the FirstBank Nigeria plc branch in Ikotun-Egbe, customers were seen in long queues effecting withdrawals. It took the intervention of private security men to restore orderliness. There were also members of staff on the ground to ensure adequate supply of cash to the ATMs.
At the GT Bank branch in Ikorodu, customers spent a great deal of time to effect withdrawals. However, all the ATM outlets were in working condition.
On Lagos Island, no queue was recorded at the ATM locations whileonly few customers were seen at a branch of Intercontinental Bankat Marina.
Meanwhile, the naira has continued to weaken against the U.S dollar at the interbank market as demand for the currency has continued to surpass supply by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Analysts said the increased in demand at the auction was causedby the CBN holding only one auction this week as a result of a public holiday on Tuesday and Wednesday to mark theend of Muslim Ramadan fasting.
At the interbank market on Monday, the demand of the greenback outweighed supply at CBN's bi-weekly auction, leaving a gap of about$137 million in unmet demand.
The naira closed at N155 to the dollar on the interbank market compared to N154.70 toa dollar Friday's close as some banks buy up dollars to cover their positions.(Nigerian Tribune)
No comments:
Post a Comment