Camouflaged Robbery of the Naira (N)

T

hey tell us to put our money in the banks, they say it’s the safest way to keep it from thieves and this will reduce the risk of being robbed.

But tell me; who really are the thieves?

I,YOU or THEM (THE BANKS)?

POLICY, POLICY, POLICY!

That's all we get to hear these days, it’s a new one after the other, and “I will say a new way to steal after the other".

First they introduced the ATM, an idea everyone was willing to embrace even I, then i could withdraw N100, N200 all the way to the top.

Some people avoided this concept because they felt it came with a little more expense, like; purchasing an ATM card and having to pay for its maintenance, and to avoid the temptation of always wanting to withdraw cash, so they just continued the old fashioned way: “CUE for CASH”.

I guess some people were too smart for the banks; anyway they could get their money to the last denomination N5, N10, N20, N50, etc. without having to pay for it. Then the banks had to get smarter and guess what, "a new policy".

This I find very interesting; first the banks brought the ATM concept, when people got too smart they brought a new policy to force them to the ATMs. No withdrawals below the sum of one hundred thousand naira (N100, 000) could be made across the counter except with the ATM card. The banks claimed this policy was to reduce the traffic it had in the banking halls and it also was a quick and effective way to withdraw money, “agreed”, but have they really come out clean? Are there no hidden intensions? Why the ATMs?

Remember, I liked the ATM concept; I mean at least one could withdraw in denominations of N100, N200, N500 and N1, 000 but how many ATMs do that today? We are being forced to withdraw moneys we do not need; one needs only N700 but he/she can’t get it and is forced to withdraw N1, 000, or how do you feel about being told how much you can get from your own money? Today, you have to be the luckiest person to make a N500 withdrawal on an ATM machine. I mean one walks up to an ATM with the intention of withdrawing N500 and then a message pops up saying: you can only make withdrawals in multiples of N1, 000. What if the case is different?

A young man is stranded at the bus-stop, his fare is only about N50 or N100 and luckily his bank is close by with the sum of N1, 470 in his account, he can’t get the money across the counter because it’s below N100, 000 so his next option is to use the ATM. But today you and I know there is no ATM that pays in denominations of N100 and N200 so this young man either has to beg to raise his fare or walk all the way because he had just been robbed, not by the armed thieves you and I know but by the “banks” we are supposed to trust!

What do you say? Are you tired of being robbed? What’s your take on this?

WATCH OUT FOR THE NEXT EDITION

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