Banks to continue operating  during elections –ACAMB

By Chinwendu Obienyi

Contrary to reports that Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) will shut down operations a few days before elections, the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB) has said banks will continue to operate ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for February 25, 2023.

Its President, Rasheed Bolarinwa, stated this in a statement, where he assured banks will continue to function throughout the election period.

“The attention of the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB), the umbrella body of Corporate and Marketing Communications Professionals working in Nigeria’s banking sector, has been drawn to the trending social media message purporting that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was shutting down banking services for five days from Thursday, 23rd to Monday February 27, 2023 because of the general elections holding in Nigeria over next two weekends.

ACAMB hereby wishes to debunk the fake news in its entirety and wishes to assure Nigerians and the banking public that there is no iota of truth in the viral message that is being circulated. Up until this moment, no Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) or other institutions providing financial services have received any directive or communication from the CBN to close the doors of their physical banking halls or shut their digital platforms and online banking channels against their customers because of elections.

“ACAMB further wishes to assure customers that their respective banks have put in place measures to ensure that depositors can, as usual, access money in their accounts during this period. Also, customers who wish to carry out transfers or use electronic banking services will have unhindered access to these services before, during, and after the elections”, the statement said.

ACAMB further urged Nigerians not to panic and to also avoid uncontrolled spending as a result of the fake news about the alleged plan to shut down bank branches and all digital banking channels. 

According to the statement, members of the public should discountenance the trending message maliciously concocted by its faceless authors to cause disaffection among the citizenry and the DMBs. It said, “ACAMB calls on Nigerians to be peaceful and orderly during the elections and wishes the nation successful conduct of free, fair, and credible elections.”