*Banks announce early closure, telephone services, flights disrupted
25 May 2015, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The prevailing scarcity of petroleum products in Nigeria has crippled economic activities nationwide turning the bustling economic capital of the country, Lagos into a ghost town with limited number of cars plying the roads, and few businesses opening for commercial services.
Several banks have alerted their customers that branches would only open for few hours owing to the crippling effects of petroleum scarcity; mobile telephone services providers like MTN and Airtel have served notice of service disruption, while the operations of several commercial airlines operating domestic routes have been grounded.
In a notice to customers GTbank Plc, one of the leading commercial bank in Nigeria disclosed that the current shortage of petroleum products in the country has limited its ability to supply diesel to all of its branches for normal operations.
“Due to this, we unavoidably have to close our branches nationwide at 1pm, from tomorrow Monday, 25th May 2015.
“Whilst we have had to take this step to close branch operations early, we would like to seek your understanding at this time, and assure you that we will continue to work hard at finding alternative solutions to this situation and will advise you once the situation has abated.
“However, all our alternative channels will be fully functional and available for all your Personal and Business Banking.”
