Naira Scarcity: Bank staff directed to stay at home over attacks

The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), has directed its members to stay away from work in any state where banks are attacked until normalcy is restored.

There have been attacks on commercial banks and their staff over the naira scarcity crisis in the country.

The President of the association, Comrade Olusoji Oluwole, in a directive to unit presidents and secretaries, lamented that the body has been inundated with reports of threats and attacks on lives and property of members and banks.

He said despite warnings and appeals to the government to provide security measures for the safety of its members within and around bank premises, attacks had continued unabated.

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“The recent being the attack today, Friday 17th February 2023 one bank branch at Epe, Lagos state. We cannot leave the lives and properties of our members exposed to obvious danger. Consequently, all members should immediately stay away from work in any state where bank branches are attacked. This is to continue every day until normalcy is restored,” he said

In a telephone interview with Daily Trust on Saturday, Oluwole regretted that Nigerians chose to attack banks and their staff over the naira crisis.

He warned that the ongoing attacks on banks would have adverse effects on the communities affected and the country at large.

“We are not the ones closing the banks, it is the people attacking them. They are burning down banks, they are forcing us to shut down. Lives have been lost during attacks, properties destroyed. We have suffered so many losses, we shouldn’t wait till we lose our members. So, all members are to stay away from work in any community where any bank is attacked,” he said.

Oluwole, who hinted that banks and their staff, have become targets for angry Nigerians over the allegation that they were hoarding the new notes, said the authorities must come clean on the naira scarcity.

“It is time for the authorities to come out and tell the people that the problem is not the bank. It was the authorities that said we were hoarding the new notes but it is obvious our members are not responsible for the scarcity. So, the government should come out to address the people that banks are not responsible for the scarcity,” he said.