I've seen a lot of commentary about the crowds at banks in Lagos today, and while it is truly tragic as this will almost definitely lead to a huge spike in cases of the disease here, there should be a bit of time taken to understand what went down.
First, we live in a cash society. Truth is that @cenbank's recent policies have all but killed the much-vaunted #OperationCashless.
I've talked about this recently, so should it surprise anyone that many people made a run for the banks?
I've talked about this recently, so should it surprise anyone that many people made a run for the banks?
I'm not quite sure of the numbers, but a lot of people don't have ATM cards, and back to the demise of #OperationCashless, oh well.
Still on ATM cards, many cards have expired. Until this morning, I fell into that category. My card expired on 30 April.
Still on ATM cards, many cards have expired. Until this morning, I fell into that category. My card expired on 30 April.
The difference was that I had the luxury of finding out what branches of my bank would be open today, and then after selecting a branch that I deemed would not be crowded, I was in front of that branch by 0800 today.
I was right. That branch was not crowded.
I was right. That branch was not crowded.
For those who are still fortunate to have a job, most people had their salaries paid at the tail end of last week, and today is the first working day after a three day weekend and the first day that many bank branches are opening in five weeks.
Some people were paid today...
Some people were paid today...
Finally, network issues have been a pain, and another pain is that the banks themselves have been playing fast and loose with withdrawal limits (₦10k from non-bank ATMs), so many people have been socialised into doing cash.
Basically, what we saw this morning is the culmination of years of incoherent policymaking and flip-flops.
The sad thing is that it will end in tears.
May God help us all.
The sad thing is that it will end in tears.
May God help us all.
