How I do banking on Saturdays and Sundays in Nigeria

Posted by Felix Okoli on Saturday May 7, 2016 at 10:4:35:

One of the things that many Nigerians now have access to is doing their banking even after the banks have officially closed. I'm happy that we can now visit our banks on Saturdays and Sundays and do things at the bank without even having to meet any staff of the bank. Nigerian banks now use ATMs that are smart enough to serve as bank tellers and they can accept deposits as well as pay out cash.

I like going to the bank when it is not crowded with people and know how many times I have to turn back at the bank when I see a long queue. At times, I ask myself why this people would stand for many minutes or hours just to do their banking. I normally don't like staying at the bank when they are a lot of people because for me it' a waste of valuable time and I only stand at queues when it's absolutely necessary.

Nowadays, when I want to deposit money at the bank, I make use of ATMs that accept cash deposits and when I need cash, I make use of my ATM card to withdraw and this works even on Saturday and Sunday when banks in Nigeria are closed.

If I want to send money to someone, I can make use of my Internet banking or my ATM and Quickteller to do a bank transfer. At some bank locations, there are Wifi services available that allows customers with internet banking IDs to do internet banking for free even if they don't have their own personal internet service.

However, there are still some exceptional cases when I still have to visit the bank such as when I want to deposit a cheque to my account or deposit money to a government or business account where it's not possible to do yet on ATMs. I prefer Saturday and Sunday banking rather than on Weekday banking where there are a lot of people being served by bank employees that easily get tired and inefficient.

The only problem I've noticed with banking at my bank after banking hours have closed is that their ATMs and internet banking portal is not guaranteed to be available for 24 hrs and I guess it has to do with the Nigerian factor.