By Our Correspondents
With three of the seven days gone for President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the pervasive scarcity of both old and new naira notes, citizens in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, continue to bemoan their fate as economic activities ground to a halt.
This is coming on the heels of revelation by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale, that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, might have misled the president on the preparedness of the apex bank on the redesigned currency.
Across the territory, our correspondents encountered frustrated citizens in hunt for whether old or new notes.
Most of those who spoke to this newspaper slammed the CBN and commercial banks for the non-availability of both the old and newly designed naira notes at all channels, including banking halls, Automated Teller Machine points and Point of Sale terminal operators as well as poor network connectivity for transfers.
On Saturday, most parents who were on school visits to their wards and children could not hide their angst at their inability to give some cash to the students for emergency upkeeps.
“It is tiring. I came here to visit my son and I had just N500 to give to him to have on him because Emefiele and co have decided to make lives difficult for us. Is it a crime to be a Nigerian?” A parent at Government Secondary School, Pyakasa, Maitama, queried.
Also, most churches on Sunday urged worshippers to do transfers in the absence of physical cash.
Unlike last week when an appreciable number of PoS operators had cash even with exorbitant charges, this weekend, most where without cash and the few that had cash had increased their charges.
In some parts of Abuja, a charge of N1, 000 for N5,000 of old notes, while others charged as much as N1, 200. For the new notes, it was 1, 500 to N1, 700 for N6,000.
At ATM points, crowds could be seen with some explaining that they were ready to wait till late into the night.
The Abuja Inquirer further learnt that bank guards are doing brisk transactions by taking the number of cash strapped Nigerians to call them up late at night when the machines are loaded.
In some instances, some people have been known to risk their ATM cards with the security guards who charge from N1, 000 and above.
In the interview however, Ngelale said, “They (Nigerians) feel that the Federal Government of Nigeria is unintentionally or intentionally impoverishing them overnight. That is the perception they have, whether it is right or wrong.
“What we are working to do is to ensure that Mr President is given effective and true information and that the report that was given by the CBN that they have supplied all bank branches in the country with sufficient amounts of the new naira notes is absolutely false and it is evidential at this point.”
