It has now become a regular occurrence for a person to make a withdrawal from the ATM and the ATM dispenses dirty and torn naira notes. On one occasion, I visited the UBA branch located on 23 road, Festac Town, to make a withdrawal. When the ATM dispensed the money, I received a bad note, which was torn. 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 for transportation, and the transporters refused to collect the money, except for one who reluctantly accepted it eventually.
On more than one occasion, I have experienced receiving bad, dirty and torn Naira notes from other banks ATMs. The experience can be very annoying, and for example, with the most recent occurrence just some days ago, on a Saturday morning, I complained to the security guard about receiving a torn Naira note – the tear being on the number area of the #1,000 note. The security guard asked me to come back on Monday to resolve the issue.
So, I would like to use this medium to complain about bank ATMs dispensing, bad Naira notes. Imagine a scenario where someone needs to use the money he withdraws from an ATM for some urgent expenses, such as for food, medications, transportation, or something else. He withdraws the money successfully, but finds out that the money is bad. What should the person do? How can he wait till the beginning of the next working week to report the bad currency note issued by the bank’s ATM?
Daniel Ighakpe FESTAC Town, Lagos
