Concerned members of the civil society groups (CSGs) are protesting the scarcity of new naira notes at the headquarters of banks in Lagos.

The peaceful protesters were heard repeatedly chanting: “All we are saying: give us new notes.”

“We are in front of WEMA Bank; we just left UBA. We are going to all the headquarters of the various banks we have in Nigeria. The new naira notes cannot stop all of us. We have gone to the ATMs; we could not access the new notes. We learnt, and we are aware, that the CBN has made available the new naira notes to all banks,” said one of the leaders.

“And that is why the civil society leaders have taken it upon themselves to stop various banks from ‘suffering’ Nigerians. Nigerians have suffered enough.”

Some of the placards, calling hard on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, read: “EFCC, arrest bank officials hoarding the new naira notes, now”; “CBN, sanction defaulting banks, now”; and “Banks are sabotaging the efforts of the CBN”.