Residents sleep at ATM points across northern Nigeria as cash scarcity persists

Many Nigerians in the north of the country are sleeping in the cubicles of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in banks and other places as the scarcity of the new naira notes bites harder.

While some are residents of urban areas, most of those who spend the night at the ATM points are mostly from communities without bank services and have to wait till they get the cash before they can return home, PREMIUM TIMES gathered.

“I left my home around 5:12 a.m. on Tuesday with the hope of being number one on the queue because one of my friends who works at the bank told me to come early, but when I reached there, I met 15 people that spent the night there,” said Umar Ashura, a non-academic staffer at the Federal University Dustin Ma in Katsina, who has an account with Unity Bank.

He said that was the first time he came to know that people spend nights at banks to get money.

“It’s surprising because the highest you can get is…