Customers waiting for a bank to open after the arrival of an armoured personnel carrier
She sat on one edge of the gutter that runs through the frontage of the bank, looking unsettled, whilst defying the scorching sun. The black nylon bag in her left hand seemed like a treasure that she needed to guard with her life, thus, she held tightly to it, occasionally placing it between her legs.
She needed to use the bank; deposit a large sum of money, which was the proceeds of her sales in her beer parlour the previous night, but the banks would not open that early, even at 10:00am. But in order not to spend the whole day on the queue, she needed to come early and sit around until 11am when the banks would open. It was the same experience at the frontage of most of the other banks within the premises.
On a brief enquiry why there were so many people standing outside, she said, “Banks don’t open early in Ijebu Ode o, unless they see Armoured Personnel Carrier. That is why we are here waiting for the policemen so the banks can open.”
At short intervals, Mrs. Akomolede Victoria, as she later introduced herself, kept checking her wristwatch, while the number of other customers arriving and waiting for the bank to open kept increasing.
An Armoured Personnel Carrier parked close to the banks
While some stood in their twos and threes, lamenting what had become of the town in terms of commercial activities, some others who appeared indifferent, exchanged banter as a few others sought where they could relax until it was time. Time check was 10:30am.
Hawkers of food items and sellers of edible items in nearby shops took advantage of the crowd to make some money as they moved from one bank to the other with their wares.
As the morning slowly fades out into noontime, evidenced by the increasing human and vehicular movement and the early morning sun, the number of customers gathering in front of all the commercial banks on the popular Ibadan Road, which is about the commercial nerve centre of the ancient city of Ijebu Ode, kept increasing.
As the time inched closer to 11am, with about 10 minutes remaining, the customers, in their hundreds, hurriedly stood up and inched closer to the entrance of the banks, all set for the quick rush that was to take place thereafter. The siren that would signal the arrival of the armoured tank was all they were waiting for and it was what the banks also needed before they could open their doors to customers.
True to their expectation and the amazement of our correspondent, at 11:01am, the faint sound of siren heralded the arrival of the APC. It grew louder and became almost deafening as it moved around with fierce-looking, gun-brandishing policemen until it parked opposite the Zenith Bank, its usual parking spot, as our correspondent later found out.
Customers waiting at the entrance of a bank pending the arrival of armoured personnel carrier
Spontaneously, the banks’ workers, who had resumed at 8am but had remained inside for fear of being robbed, rolled up their sleeves and prepared for the day’s work. They began opening their doors but the rush that followed was incredible!
To say the least, it was shocking to any visitor but a norm to other residents. Both the old and young threw caution to the wind as they made to join the queue at the entrance of the bank. The reason for the rush was simple; the banks would only operate for three hours and close at 2pm when the APC leaves the premises.
There were minor injuries but they didn’t seem bothered by that. All that mattered to them at that moment was to enter the bank and they did everything possible to achieve that.
As strange as it sounds, this is the reality of the helpless residents of Ijebu Ode in Ogun State, where banking activities only run from 11am to 2pm, and only if there is the armoured personnel carrier. It was gathered that in the absence of the APC, none of the 15 banks in the town would open, apart from the two branches of the First City Monument Bank in the town, which, it was learnt, had consistently operated within the normal working hours.
“There were times the banks will not even open at all, once they don’t see the APC and we would have no choice than to either use the automated teller machine, which rarely works, or we go to Sagamu,” a resident told Saturday PUNCH.
The crowded banking halls
When our correspondent entered one of the banks around 12pm, the banking hall was filled to capacity with queues. The crowd and the attendant long queues were simply unsettling, and the tellers, customer care officers, and other members of staff saddled with the responsibility of attending to people, were all red-faced due to the pressure from the teeming customers.
“Please be fast o, because it will soon be 2:00pm,” some customers occasionally reminded the workers, since the banks usually close around 2pm when the APC leaves the town.
Customers besiege one of the banks after it opened for operation
Across the counter, a cashier who, appeared to have lost touch with the need to smile to her customers, grudgingly answered a question posed by our correspondent on when they would close to customers since they didn’t open early enough. She answered, “Oga, we close by 2pm. These three hours is like working from 8am to 4pm or even more than that. You can see the crowd. Once the APC leaves, we shut the door and we will only attend to those that are already inside.”
In four other banks visited by our correspondent, the story was the same, and in some cases, people had to wait outside because the banking halls were full. Not even Ijebu Igbo that is about 20mins away could offer a robust alternative because there are just three banks in the community with one bank having two branches.
In fact, when our correspondent visited the community, there was also a stationed APC adjacent one of the banks in the town. Even at Ago Iwoye that is about 15minutes from Ijebu Igbo, not all the banks in the community are working, all because of the fear of armed robbers.
Some customers in Ijebu Ode who spoke to our correspondent lamented the difficulty they had been going through because of the skeletal mode of operation by the banks, saying it had been a tortuous experience. A civil servant, Mrs. Obafemi Esther, said she was already planning to move to a neighbouring town where banking operations would be relatively better.
She said, “You can imagine that I don’t have access to my salary anytime I wish to, because sometimes the queue in the bank could be tiring and they operate within a specified time. If not for the increased armed robbery incidents on the Sagamu Road, I would have been going to Sagamu for my banking activities, because even the ATMs are not reliable.”
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