Elections Lead to Large Bank Withdrawals

Large sums of money are being withdrawn from commercial banks in Lagos during this election period,

A bank manager in Marina, Lagos Island said his branch recorded withdrawals running into millions of naira last Friday – the eve of the botched National Assembly election.

A cashier with another bank in Oregun, on Lagos mainland, also said some of their customers withdrew up to three million naira at different times in a single day.

One other bank cashier in Ogba, also a Lagos suburb, said some customers had to be locked out because there were too many people crammed inside the banking hall trying to withdraw cash.

Professor Akpan Ekpo, head of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, a division of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said such withdrawals could trigger election-year inflation.

However, he said that the bank was taking all necessary measures to mop up any excess cash in the economy.