Banks and the dirty naira notes

It has now become a regular occurrence for a person to make a withdrawal from the ATM and it dispenses dirty and torn naira notes.  Recently, I visited  a bank in Festac Town, Lagos to make a withdrawal. When the ATM dispensed the money, I received torn notes. I complained to the bank staff who was present at the ATM centre but he claimed nothing was wrong with the money. I then tried to use it to pay for my transportation but several conductors refused to collect the money, except for one who reluctantly accepted it eventually.

Many people are experiencing that at different ATMs across the country and are left to ponder and find how to dispose of the money.

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So, I would like to use this medium to complain about bank ATMs dispensing, bad, dirty and torn naira notes. Imagine a scenario where someone needs to use the money he withdraws from an ATM for some urgent expenses, such as food, medication, transportation, or something else and it is rejected. Suppose it is during the weekend, and he has no other money in his bank account or at hand. What should the person do? What happens to the urgent need that he wanted to use the money for?

I, therefore, call on the banks, particularly the officials who have the responsibility of loading the banks’ Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with cash, to kindly take extra care to ensure that they load their ATMs with clean, non-mutilated, useable notes, to save their customers from embarrassment.

 Daniel Ighakpe resides in FESTAC Town, Lagos.