Across state capitals and other big cities, Nigerians are agonising over the hardship imposed by the scarcity of new naira notes. Our correspondents report that many businesses and people’s lives are now in ruins.
The hardship inflicted on Nigerians with the new naira policy is all-encompassing as there is virtually no segment of the economy that does not feel the painful impact of the policy.
At the Bingham University Teaching Hospital (BUTH), Jankwano, Jos, patients and their relations had to painfully contend with the challenge of the cashless environment at the hospital.
Though the hospital has one ATM spot for those around the hospital to access their money and pay for drugs and services rendered by the hospital, there is no cash in the machine. There are couples of POS operators who erected their tents at the gate of the hospital to attend to people, but they too are out-of-cash.
As an alternative, the hospital management allowed people to use its account number to make transfer of cash. However, that also has its challenge due to allegations of insincerity and fraud associated with cash transfer from one to another. This is coupled with cases of hospital customers who are not literate enough to do so.
Dr. Linus Dike who spoke with The Nation said, “The hospital is a humanitarian agency, and that is we are most affected by this new naira policy. As medical personnel, you cannot abandon a patient with emergency case because he has no cash. You can’t abandon a woman in labour because she has no cash. That is we are the most affected.”
A staff with the account section of BUTH who pleaded anonymity said, “Why is government starting a policy that we don’t have what it takes to sustain it. Even the POS transfer we are trying to do is not supported with good network. We battle with the network challenges all day long; this is stressful.”
Dr. Silvanus Tari said, “I sympathize with people who have patients in the hospital because I can see all they go through in this cashless situation. Even if the hospital gets the medical bill through transfer, the people need cash to purchase food for the patient on admission. Every patient needs food and water just as they need drugs, but they can have the cash to do all these. It’s so unfortunate how government forces new policy on its people.”
The same painful situations exist at La-med Pharmacy in First Gate Dadin-Kowa, Jos. People need drugs but they don’t have cash to purchase the drugs and the only POS service of the pharmacy is not enough to accommodate the traffic of customers. At the terminal station of the Plateau State Transport Company known as Plateau Express, along Tafawa Balewa Jos, government was yet to get its drivers to have the POS gadget. Only those who have their cash travel through the park. It was chaotic seeing travellers stranded at the park. Most travellers had to turn back to go and search for cash at any available ATM. Mr Ajala Enoch said, “I came to the park thinking the company has PoS, but they don’t have, and I’m forced to suspend my journey and go and look for cash.”
Protest at Osun microfinance banks as customers fume
Amid the crisis of scantiness of new naira note, customers have protested as Osun microfinance banks are under lock and key over unavailability of new naira notes at their disposal. Customers who are operating accounts in microfinance banks in Osogbo last week had attack bank officials over failure of the banks to give them money.
The Chairman of National Association of Microfinance Banks, Osun State chapter, Tunde Lawal, when contacted on the matter, confirmed that none of the banks was given new naira notes for customers. Lawal thereafter directed our correspondent to the national body of the association for further comment.
Meanwhile, checks by The Nation revealed that most of the microfinance banks in Osogbo, Olorunda, Boripe, Ejigbo are under lock and keys because of fear of customers who might attack officials. Customers of the banks protested in Osogbo yesterday. A customer named Jare Ismail said, “We are protesting against CBN policy because when we got to our microfinance banks to withdraw, they told us that CBN did not factor them in for the distribution of the new naira note; hence, they don’t have any money with them to give us.
“I have money with them and I can’t access it; I have not paid the salary of my staff for the month of January. We are embarking on a protest; nothing can stop us. We can’t remain silent. MFBs have been under lock and keys because they don’t have any cash to give us.”
Hospitals, pharmacies, traders, others resort to POS as alternative means of payment in Minna
Hospitals, pharmacies, and traders in the Minna metropolis are no longer accepting money transfers due to fluctuating network services making the service providers resort to payment by POS. At the Minna General Hospital, the Head of Pharmacy, Dr. Umar Ndagi told The Nation that last week was very stressful for the patients and the staff of the hospital as making payment for services was very difficult.
He said the network challenge and delay in the reflection of money paid into the account made the hospital management resort to engaging in the use of POS for payment. “It was very stressful for us last week, especially in the area of drug procurement and laboratory services. We started looking for the best approach to solve this challenge and we adopted the use of POS. For those who do not have POS, we encourage them to pay the money to someone who has POS who will now make the payment on their behalf.
“The reason why money transfers were discarded was that you have to pay for each service and it is receipted; so if the money does not reflect in the hospital account and a receipt is issued, it becomes a problem.”
He said that the traffic for hospital visits was reduced last week due to this challenge but with the introduction of the POS, there is now an increase in traffic of hospital attendance. Speaking in a similar vein, the second in charge of Kpakungun Primary Healthcare Center, Umar Yakubu, said that it has been difficult as they no longer accept transfers and do not have POS. “We accept cash because the transfer has been causing problems as the money does not usually drop into the account and at the end of the day, there will be nowhere to locate these patients; so we don’t want to transfer again.”
According to her, this has resulted in people buying fewer drugs than the ones prescribed and some do not do the laboratory test they come for. “Before all these, we collect money for laboratory tests after the tests have been done but now, we have resolved to collect the money before the test is conducted. So people do not do the test as much as they would have loved to.”
At the Abdulsalam Garage, some of the drivers say they accept transfers, some say that they collect cash while some make arrangements with the POS agents who collect the money and send it to their account.
Edo to set up special task force to check excesses of PoS operators
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has revealed that his administration will set up a special task force to clamp down on the excesses of Point of Sale (PoS) agents in Edo, who charge arbitrary fees in the wake of the cash crunch caused by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN)’s currency swap policy.
He made the disclosure yesterday at the Government House, Benin, during an enlarged meeting with market women drawn from Edo’s three senatorial districts. In attendance at the meeting were Edo Deputy Governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu; Secretary to State Government (SSG), Osarodion Ogie; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Osaigbovo Iyoha; Commissioner for Business, Trade and Cooperatives, Afishetu Braimoh; Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) officials, and bank managers in Edo, among others.
Obaseki, who assured the market women that their money in the bank was intact, noted that they could transact with the money and pay for goods and services through electronic bank transfers. He said: “We are setting up a special task force that will include CBN, Department of State Services (DSS), other security agencies, government officials, members of Civil Society Organisation (CSO) and market women to clamp down on those selling money. We will cease the licence of any PoS operator found to have increased the rate of changing money. PoS operators can do other activities, not only giving out cash, but also helping to transfer money.
“CBN is bringing more money, but it will be sent to rural areas. For urban areas, we urge you to try and use your phone for transactions. Your money is not lost, but safe in various banks where you have them.”
Naira scarcity bites harder in Ondo where people buy money
The effect of scarcity of the naira has continued to bite harder in Akure, the Ondo State capital and other parts of the state. Iyalaje of Ikare Akoko, Alhaja Risikat Mohammed, confirmed that markets were not functioning properly due to lack of cash in the hands of people. She said the situation was worsened with the rising cost of transportation of goods.
At the state hospital in Akure, POS operators made brisk business from relatives of patients as the hospital insisted on collecting cash. A man said he had to pay N5,000 to collect N50,000 because he needed pay the hospital bill for his son. The hospital management, in a notice on a wall at a cash point, explained that it stopped using POS as payment options due to issues of proper debiting.
A restaurant operator, David Ebriku, said the naira scarcity has badly affected his businesses. According to him, “We now use money to buy money. It is affecting my profit. Most of where we buy goods from are not ready to collect transfers. Anytime we want to withdraw cash, I collect N40,000, I paid N4,500 for charges. Those people have collected the profit. That will led to increase in the food I will sell. Most times filling stations do not use POS. It will be difficult to break even. I cannot buy goods because the traders used to demand cash. Many customers now do transfers and it affects us when we want to collect the money. It is killing if urgent steps are not taken. Things are going bad. Government should make money available at the ATMs. I went to the bank, they said no money. If our money is available, business will be good.”
Lagosians lament e-banking hitches, cash scarcity amid long queues at ATMs
From market women, men, pharmaceutical shops, and hospital patients, it was a tale of lamentations yesterday in Lagos over scarcity of new naira notes. At Isolo General Hospital, a patient, who pleaded anonymity, said she is finding it difficult to make payments at the hospital.
“For some parts, they will say we should pay by cash, so, we go out to POS to get cash and some charge N1000 to N1.500 for N5000; others charge N3000 for N10000. In another section, we can pay with an ATM card but the issue is that when you transfer, the account transferred doesn’t get an alert it was causing issues a few moments ago because the person was debited but the supposed receiver didn’t see an alert.”
It was the same story with Folashade Adenuga, a tomato seller who spoke on the problems she has been going through since the introduction of the new naira policy. She said: “This new naira wahala is affecting my market. Customers are saying they don’t have cash but will do the transfer. And after collecting the transfer when I want to go to Mile 12 to buy a basket of tomatoes for N30.000, the POS operator will charge me N3,000 for N10,000. Traders in Mile 12 market don’t collect transfer but cash. So I am losing money. The market is dull, I have to beg them to buy and convince them to pay a transfer because my market is a perishable good.”
Another trader by the name of Emmanuel Obasi who is an Akara seller said his business has been paralysed because nobody has money to buy his goods. He explained that he doesn’t accept transfers because there is no money to withdraw at the ATM. “As you can see, there is no market. Most of the Akara I fried since morning around 8 am are not yet sold. POS operators are not helping matters, so it has been tough for us. I still have plenty of ground beans that have not been fried,”
The Vice Chairman of meat sellers at the Isolo market, Alhaji Abdullah Akiola said he doesn’t accept transfers again because the cow sellers never accept transfers but cash. “I collect cash because the Hausa Cow sellers don’t accept transfers. They said that they are going back to their village and in their village, there is no network for e-banking and collecting money will be difficult for them. On Saturday when most of my customers didn’t have cash and I have to sell. The money that was collected through transfer that day, I have not been able to withdraw it because there are long queues at the bank. I left the bank by 10 am this money and couldn’t withdraw any money,” he said.
A pharmacist at Willux Pharmaceutical Care Limited along Okota road, Mary Samuel explained that the new naira note has not circulated because most customers make payment through transfer or POS.
“We do more of POS and sometimes we ask customers to transfer and they would have to wait longer times for an alert before they will leave. This is because of bank network issues. Sometimes they will leave out of frustration because they were not able to get the item because the bank network has failed. Sales have reduced because of this issue. Even some that come with say N1000 to buy something of N300 we don’t have a chance to give because of no cash. Two out of ten come to buy with cash,” she said.
14 political parties threaten to boycott elections if CBN shifts naira swap deadline
Fourteen out of the 18 registered political parties have reportedly threatened to boycott the general election if the CBN extends the deadline for the use of old naira notes. The apex bank fixed February 10 as the deadline for the use of old naira notes. The CBN had initially fixed January 31 as the deadline but shifted it as many Nigerians were unable to access the new N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Kenneth Udeze spoke on Monday at a press conference by the Forum of Chairmen of Nigerian Political Parties and the Forum of Candidates for the 2023 General Election. Udeze, who is the national chairman of the Action Alliance (AA), said the deadline already fixed by the apex bank must not be shifted. “We hereby announce our resolution that at least 14 0f the 18 political parties in Nigeria will not be interested in the 2023 general election and indeed we shall withdraw all our participation from the electoral process if these currency policies are suspended or cancelled or if the deadline is further shifted,” Udeze said.
Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), had also asked the CBN not to extend the deadline for the swap of the old notes. His comments elicited criticism from the All Progressives Congress (APC), with the ruling party describing him as an “enemy” of Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday asked Nigerians to give him seven days to resolve the crisis caused by the scarcity of new naira notes.
Falana group threatens nationwide protest
A coalition of labour movements and over 70 civil society groups, Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond, under the leadership of rights lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN), threatened nationwide protest if the naira scarcity continues unabated.
In a statement, Falana, the interim chairman, said it was statutorily lawful to allow the spending of both old and new notes at the same time.
The statement reads: “Fuel and currency scarcity is inexplicable and unacceptable. The Federal Government has shirked its obligation to guarantee the security and welfare of the Nigerian people as provided under Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.
“Since it is now clear that enough Naira notes have not been printed, the Central Bank should allow the old and new Naira notes to be legal tender in Nigeria.
“This suggestion is in line with Section 22 of the CBN Act which permits the replacement of old currency notes with new ones after the deadline fixed by the CBN…
“The currency and fuel crises constitute an unprecedented challenge to the economic survival of ordinary people that may threaten the 2023 elections which provide an opportunity for the people to choose a party considered to be representative of their aspirations.
“Unless the twin crises of fuel and currency scarcities are immediately resolved within the timeline given by the President, ASCAB has resolved to call on the Nigerian people to commence a series of peaceful mass actions in their communities to resist the unjustifiable economic hardship which may compel postponement of the forthcoming elections as INEC has hinted.
“If the Federal Government fails to resolve the twin crises of fuel and currency scarcity before February 10, 2023, the country will witness nationwide peaceful mass actions by the Nigerian people.”