NAIRA SCARCITY: Paul Okoye groans over purchase of 40k with 70k

Paul Okoye, a member of the previously defunct music group, P-Square has taken to social media to lament about the Naira scarcity, after the purchase of 40k with 70k.

The Naira scarcity has been plaguing Nigerians for a couple of weeks now, following the introduction of the new notes.

Taking to his Instagram story, Paul Okoye expressed his shock, as he disclosed that he bought Naira today because he needed to pay for a visa fee and it needed to pay in cash.

As stated by Rude Boy, he bought N40k with N70k in order to make payments. The father of 3 expressed his displeasure, as he noted that the country keeps breaking new records.

He wrote: “Omoh!!! I buy money today!! Just because I have to pay for a certain visa fee in an embassy, and it has to be paid in cash. Jokes apart I bought 40k with 70k Aahhhh!!!!!!! Naija breaking new record.”

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that it is tough getting money from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of banks as well as Point of Sales (PoS), hence the Naira scarcity.

Buyers and sellers, especially in informal markets, were stranded as some of them were still finding it difficult to agree on cash transfers.

Currently, many banks do not attend to desperate customers over the counter. On the other hand, PoS terminals that are a critical part of the payment system do not have the new naira notes to give customers.

Many of the operators said they had to use the “black market” to get both the old and new notes from “unexpected quarters”, hence their resolve to charge a lot of money from people who were willing to withdraw cash.

Some POS operators, as at February 16, 2023 collected as much as N1,000 to release N5, 000. The total number of POS machines deployed by merchants and individuals across Nigeria hit 1.6 million in November 2022, according to the data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

There are approximately 17 automated teller machines, 147 point-of-sale devices and four bank branches for every 100,000 Nigerians, according to a new report by McKinsey.

However, most of these facilities, which were meant to facilitate a gradual transition to a cashless economy in Nigeria were somehow strangulated to the extent that they could not offer the needed services.

According to some bankers, they had been directed and were being closely monitored, to ensure that no old naira note that got to the bank goes out again.

They also lamented that they were yet to get an adequate supply of the new naira notes to meet up with the increasing demands of their customers.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said over N3 trillion was in circulation but had mopped up over N1.9 trillion so far.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the scarcity, which started at the weekend owing to the rush to beat the initial January 31 deadline for the return of old notes of N1, 000, N500 and N200 continued yesterday as most ATMs around Ikeja, Oshodi, Maryland and Lagos Island were out of cash.