Warri women barricade banks due to shortage of new naira notes

Archetypal of the Aba Women Riot in colonial Nigeria, aggrieved market women in Warri spontaneously stormed main roads and banks on Friday to protest the lack of new naira notes to handle their day-to-day business.

The angry women expressed their frustration with access to the new naira, after being forced to deposit their old notes, and also worried about the scarcity and rise in the price of PMS, which now stands between N500 and N700 in filling stations.

The women went on a rampage and barricaded the popular Warri – Sapele Road and NPA highway, with some laying siege to an old generation bank near Ogbe-Ijoh Market, Warri South Local Government Area.

In outright rage, the aggrieved women also pulled down canopies of the said bank that were meant for customers to queue outside the bank building.

One of the protesters, who identified herself as Laiye from Odimodi, who sells fresh fish, complained that she had suffered untold hardship due to Naira scarcity.

With her business crashing before her eyes, the fish seller, wearing a net mask on her face, complained that she had not made any sales since the acute scarcity of Naira began.

Laiye therefore threatened that she was ready to die rather than continue to suffer the pain caused by the scarcity of the new Naira notes.

Calls allegedly made to security agencies for protection during the fury were reportedly rejected because the cash crunch policy also failed to exempt them.

Meanwhile, another commercial bank in the Warri Garage area is said to have only allowed their staff to access the ATM to withdraw cash, while customers were reportedly denied access to the cash withdrawal points.

Out of frustration, the customers would have barricaded the bank’s building with iron bars to prevent unrest.

In a rage, the women barricaded the Warri Sapele road with tires, tugs, wooden tables and anything in sight to vent their displeasure.

Another group of women traders from Iron Market and Main Market, armed with signs of their grievances, also blocked the NPA highway to press their demands.

They threatened to boycott the upcoming general election if their plight is not addressed in time.

The protesters disrupted traffic and sang solidarity songs to channel their inability to access their money at the banks.

The women of the various market groups complained about how the current situation in the country such as increase in transportation, no cash, exorbitant fees charged at the point of sale, POS cripples their business as the few buyers who come insist that they pay by electronic transfer due to the unavailability of cash.

Some traders, while speaking to journalists, revealed that they are now battling fake alerts and paying up to N2,000 to get N10,000 notes.

They called on the Central Bank of Nigeria and other relevant authorities to address the situation as it was already taking a huge toll on them, especially the cost of living.

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