Customers storm banks as accounts verification ends tomorrow

Customers in Owerri have besieged banks trying to beat the deadline of June 30 for the verification of bank accounts.

A Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria who visited some banks in Owerri on Monday, reports that bank officials and security operatives, were having a tough time controlling the customers.

Reacting to the development, some of the customers called for the extension of the deadline.

A customer at the First Bank, Mrs Catherine Okwuosa, said a lot of people spent the whole day queuing for the exercise without being verified.

“If this exercise ends as proposed, it will be unfair as many of us will not be captured. I plead that they should extend it by another one month,” she said.

Another customer, Mrs Cordelia Nwaiwu, also complained of the large crowds at the bank, and urged the bank management to increase the number of service points.

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“You cannot believe that as early as 5.30 am, a lot of people have already gathered to write their names, to be captured when the bank opens by 8.am.

“Unfortunately, when they started, they said they will complete those left the previous day. I had been trying for the past three days to see that my account was verified, to no avail,” she said.

At the Fidelity bank, the story was the same as a customer, Mr Mike Nwachukwu, called on banks to simplify the process by making it possible for customers to be verified over the Internet.

“If people are allowed to be verified on-line, it will reduce the number of customers that queue at banks for the exercise,” he said.

In his reaction, Chief Caleb Orji, a businessman, noted that the initiative was laudable to check the increasing cases of bank fraud, but said it should be a continuous process.

A civil servant, Mrs Blessing Ugochukwu, expressed the fear that civil servants, whose accounts had not been verified, could find it difficult to access their salary.

She called on the Central Bank to extend the deadline to allow more people complete the verification process.

An official of one of the banks, who pleaded for anonymity, told NAN that at the end of the exercise, those not verified would be captured whenever they came for any bank transaction.

He lamented that the exercise had been going on since last year, only for people to be in a rush now.