*As Scarcity of Naira hits the State
By Victoria Aliyogbe
One Abraham, a Point of Sales operator has been beaten to pulp for withdrawing twice from an ATM machine.
The incident occured on Tuesday, Monday 31st, 2023 at one of the Atm stands in Abakaliki.
According to the POS operator, he withdrew once and was about to withdraw the second time with another ATM card, when others who quened behind him noticed and pounced on him.
Stating “ I went to the ATM yesterday to withdraw money, so I can go back to my POS stand, the crowd were too much at the ATM.
“So I decided to withdraw twice with different ATM so that I will have enough cash to dispense when I get to my POS stand. Unfortunately when I tried to slot in my card, the people bounced on me and beat me mercilessly. ”
” They beat me because they was no much money in the ATM to be dispensed. ”
He maintained that the huge quene at ATM stands and the stress in getting new naira notes have made POS Operators increased their charges across the State.
According to information gathered by The Voice, POS Operators now charge N100 for every N1,000 and N1,000 for every N10,000 withdrawn or transferred to another account.
According to David, a POS operator he said he charges charges N400 for N5000. Stating “the maximum amount of money I allow customers to withdraw is N10,000. I do this so that I can be able to have enough money for the day”
Also, Chioma, another POS agent said the scarcity of money has not been good on her and she collects N500 and N1,000 on withdrawals for N5000, and N10,000 respectively
She said, “these banks are not ready to give us new notes and that is why the scarcity of money continue.
According to Mr Chibuzor, a customer he said I withdrew N10,000 from a POS operator in Presco, and I paid N1,000
Speaking with another operator, Mr Abraham he said, “ I went to the ATM yesterday to withdraw money so I can go back to my POS stand but people were too much at the ATM and I was even beaten by some people because I used two cards to withdraw money, they beat me because there is no enough money been dispensed by the ATM”
Meanwhile, customers crowded ATMs across the city , waiting and expecting new currency, and those who were impatient looked for POS operators to make urgent withdrawal.
