Reports emerging on Monday revealed that residents of Kano State, Nigeria’s centre of commerce, are witnessing naira scarcity.
It was gathered that even Point of Sale (POS) operators, where residents find solace during emergencies, are at the moment lamenting over the resurging scarcity in the state.
According to Daily Trust, the development is already hitting businesses and threatening the survival of the people by the day.
A resident, Halliru Akilu, who spoke to journalists on the development, said: “Honestly, these days there is scarcity of cash. I don’t normally come out with cash with me. What I do is to locate where cash it so as to get it; but it’s now hard.
“When you visit some Point Of Sale (POS), you hardly get ₦1,000 or ₦2000. When I am about to go to work, it becomes a challenge every day because they hardly accept transfers; you have to get cash.”
He urged authorities to investigate the issue as it affects businesses and livelihoods.
“I am calling on the authorities to look into the issue; we are suffering already,” Akilu said.
Also speaking, a POS operator, A.A. Adamu, lamented how people, especially businessmen, no longer take their money to banks and prefer to deal in cash.
“For the last two months, we have been facing this problem. We normally get cash at banks, but it is now difficult; when you are given the money, you see that they also got it from the Central Bank which means they don’t also have it. Banks had no cash until they started to limit what to give us. When you need ₦500,000, they give you ₦30,000. It’s really affecting our business.
“Also from filling stations and marketers, now it’s limited. You hardly get what you want because they are also complaining.
“There was a time I went to a filling station and they said they are gathering it together for a businessman who needs ₦300 million.
“There was a complaint that people go directly to local markets to buy foodstuffs, but they don’t take them to the bank. There is no money in the Bank,” he said.
OsunDailyNG recalls that the issue of Naira scarcity threatened many businesses and affected individuals in 2023 after financial institutions implemented withdrawal limits for over-the-counter transactions that fell below regulatory standards.
It could be recalled that cash withdrawals from ATMs were subject to restrictions at the time also.
As a result, Africa’s largest economy reached a stage where numerous businesses and individuals relied heavily on mobile money operators to access naira liquidity.
