Naira crisis: Delta protesters set banks, fuel station ablaze

Irate youths in Delta State on Wednesday set ablaze two commercial banks in protest against the continued scarcity of the new naira notes coupled with their rejection of the old notes.

The affected banks located in the Orovwohworun area of Udu, Delta State included the First Bank of Nigeria and an Access Bank branch in the locality.

The PUNCH gathered that the protesters comprised mainly tricycle and motorcycle operators who were angered by the commercial banks’ refusal to accept the old 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes.

Eyewitnesses said that trouble started in the early hours of the day when customers of the banks, in their long queues, could not access new notes.

It was gathered that the aggrieved youths who complained bitterly about the biting effects of the currency scarcity, coupled with the attitude of the bank officials, first attacked their ATM outlets before putting fire to the banks.

One of the protesters who would not disclose his identity said, “We are hungry and we are in a cash dilemma. No new naira notes and they are rejecting the old ones. People cannot eat, do business, we are hungry and people are dying and they are still saying politics”.

Also, a fuel station in the area was torched for rejecting the old notes from residents.

The angry protesters blocked a section of the road before setting fire to the ATMs in the banks.

The Delta State Police Command’s spokesperson, DSP Bright Edafe, could not be reached for comments on the incidents as of the time of filing this report.