Several thousands of customers of Deposit Money Banks yesterday rushed to their various branches to conduct transactions, ahead of a boycott protest,against excessive charges by lenders, tagged ‘No Banking Day’ scheduled for today.
Some of the bank branches visited by our reporters in some parts of Lagos State, yesrerday, witnessed long queues at ATM machines and inside the halls, as customers withdrew money to serve them through the protest.
“My sister told me that people were trooping to banks around Ikeja and on the Island too, because of the protest tomorrow (today). I learnt that banks there are jam-packed with customers waiting to perform one transaction or the other. So, I decided to rush to the bank and withdraw”, a female customers told BusinessDay in Lagos.
The protest tagged “No Banking Day” being pushed by some advocacy groups, led by the Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON) is targeted at grounding at least 15 percent of banks revenues for the day, and several thousands of Nigerians are supporting it on social media.
Some of the bank charges listed by the conveners of the boycott include those for SMS alert, Commission on Turnover (COT) Account Maintenance Fee , Value Added Tax (VAT) and Stamp Duty.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has investigated over 6,000 complaints relating to unauthorised bank charges brought to its notice, following which banks have been compelled to refund the sum of over N6.2 billion to affected customers in 2015 alone.
Ibrahim Muazu, director, corporate communication, at the CBN, said last night, that customers should be law abiding and report all complaints to their banks. Muazu said where the banks are not able to respond within two week, the customers can report to the CBN for necessary action.
The Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON) and others have declared today as “no banking day”, as a way of creating awareness, as well as bringing an end to excessive charges.
The implication of this, the analysts said last night is that banks may lose billions of naira in revenue if millions of Nigerians boycott transactions today.
“We are mobilising Nigerian consumers across the country for this protest and so far, the support we have received from both consumers and the media is encouraging. Consumers are tired and have shown willingness to fight for their rights by saying no to excessive charges,” Shola Salako, Founder CAFCON told BusinessDay by phone.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE & CHINWE AGBEZE
