Nigeria rioters attack ATMs, banks

A central bank policy to change banknotes stirs unrest

Bank automated teller machines have bore the brunt of Nigerians’ anger over the shortage of cash in cities.

In Benin City, hoodlums attacked the central bank local office and vandalized other banks before police stopped them, according to the Edo State governor’s spokesperson Crusoe Osagie.

“Unguided youths/miscreants in the name of protests” also set two banks and two vehicles on fire, police in Delta State said.

“We have arrested nine suspects so far. Some persons will still call this protest,” state police spokesperson Bright Edafe wrote on Twitter, Agence France-Presse reports.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday defended a currency swap that sparked protests and cash shortages, but ordered old, small denomination 200 naira notes to remain in circulation to ease scarcities.

“To further ease the supply pressures, particularly to our citizens, I have given approval to the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) that the old 200 bank notes be released back into circulation,” he said.

The old 200 naira bills will circulate as legal tender for 60 days until 10 April along with the new notes.

Nigeria has been struggling with a shortage in physical cash since the central bank began to swap old bills of the local naira currency for new ones, leading to a shortfall in banknotes.

Banks have limited access to cash and ATM withdrawals because of a scarcity of the new notes, and some businesses refuse to accept old naira, causing huge queues, angering customers and disrupting businesses.

Angry customers also burned tires and blocked streets in the southwest Nigerian city of Ibadan, police and residents said.

Oyo State police said protests broke out in some parts of Ibadan, the state capital, early Wednesday, but were soon brought under control.

“There were pockets of protest this morning by some aggrieved bank customers,” spokesperson Adewale Osifeso told AFP.

Local residents said the unrest started at Dupe, Mokola, Ogunpa, Apata and Iwo Road areas when angry bank customers began protesting because they could not access their money or change old notes to new ones.

The central bank set a February deadline for depositors to change old notes, leaving many people cashless and frustrated.

Many people working in the informal economy and in transport in Nigeria use cash for transactions rather than banking apps.

The central bank said the policy was aimed at mopping up excess and counterfeit naira from the system as well as discouraging cash ransom payments to kidnappers and bandits.