The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI, has said no less than N5 billion was lost and seven bank branches completely destroyed, following recent protests over naira scarcity.

The President of ASSBIFI, Oluwole Olusoji, disclosed this on Thursday at a news conference in Lagos, he called on the public to desist from threatening or attacking bank workers, or destroying bank properties, as bankers were also victims of the poorly implemented currency redesign.

ASSBIFI President said the N5 billion was based on the attack on about five banks and seven branches across Ogun, Edo, Delta, Oyo, and Uyo states.

“Right now, I want to believe that we will be talking about not less than five billion Naira and we are still counting, because seven branches have been burnt, ATMs have been destroyed, personal effects have been damaged, vehicles and so on and so forth.

He said: “Notwithstanding the insecurity due to the destruction of business premises within the banking industry, and the impact on insurance organisations, we remain committed to go the extra mile in providing service to our customers in safe and secure environments.

“However, we value the lives of our members and colleagues and will not put them at any further risk. We have, therefore, put them on alert and shall instruct them without further warning to immediately stay away from their branches if these attacks on our members and facilities continue until such a time that they can be guaranteed of their personal safety and the security of their workplaces by the relevant authorities.

“We call on the public to desist from threatening or attacking our members, or destroying our properties as they will be only proverbially cutting their noses to spite their faces. We can only give what we have been provided with and nothing more.

“As we stated in previous releases, while we are not against the CBN policy to redesign and withdraw the old naira notes, we continue to reiterate the need to fully engage all relevant stakeholders in immediately looking beyond printing new notes as ordered by the council of state,” Olusoji said.