Customers of Ecobank Plc in Kubwa, Abuja on Friday decried the poor services being rendered by the bank and called for improvement.
Customers of the two branches of the bank had on Tuesday turned violent over near total collapse of banking services.
Officials of the bank were not attending to their customers over what they referred to as “no network”.
Customers who came to withdraw and deposit money in the banks were turned back by the bank workers.
The tellers told the customers that they had not been able to credit those who deposited money with them since on Monday and therefore would not take in any deposit.
Customers in their hundreds thronged the banks but were disappointed that most of them had to wait inside and outside the banking hall complaining.
The situation became chaotic and turned violent when some of the aggrieved customers almost attacked the Customer Service Manager of the Gado Nasko road branch, simply called Mrs Toyin.
“I have been coming here since on Thursday last week to withdraw from my salary, it has been excuses of no network, no counter cheque no ATM facility.
“My wife and children are hungry at home, no food for us to eat and I have been trekking to and fro this bank from Dutse Alhaji without going back with any money.
“I will beat you up and di’’an angry customer shouted, banging on the manager’s table,’’ a customer said.
Another customer who reacted in same manner said: “my wife is in labour in the hospital since yesterday and they are asking me for money, I cannot pay.
“It is a different case if I do not have enough money in the bank. I have been saving in this bank for this purpose, but I cannot access my hard earn money.
“If anything happens to my wife and my baby, their blood will be upon your heads’’
Another aggrieved customer said that two people made cash deposits of N100,000 and N22,000 respectively into his account on Monday but his account was yet to be credited and he needed the money for urgent purposes
It took the intervention of the policemen, security officials and some level-headed customers in the bank to prevent them from beating up the manager who later sneaked out of her office.
Customers who were at the banks for online transfer were also turned down.
Many of the customers expressed worry over the bank services which they said was suggestive of distress and collapsing.
They called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to wade into the situation urgently to safe the depositor from the harrowing experiences they were going through.
“This is a regular experience customers go through every end of the month in this bank.
“I have gone round many Ecobank branches in the FCT since yesterday, the situation remains the same.
“The CBN and other regulatory agencies must act fast because these are signs that the bank is going distress,’’ another customer said.
An official of the bank who spoke on condition of anonymity said the problem was nationwide because of epileptic transaction services.
Another official at the bank’s headquarters in Lagos who also spoke on condition of anonymity attributed the problem to a major system upgrade by the bank.
The official said after such an upgrade, everything changes and it takes some time to pick up.
“Our purpose is to serve our customers better and this is a period where there are lots transactions.
“Due to the system upgrade, transactions such as the on-line banking are faster and better, so we had a shortfall but have overcome it,’’ the official said.
Source: PM News