The New Year came with a new wave to Nigerians……Very quickly, Nigeria’s season of cash scarcity has made top news in Africa and has spread in global sphere, and it feels like an entire wave of pandemic all by itself that has left several tongues heavily wagging.
Following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) new monetary policy, Commercial banks across Nigeria have limited access to cash and ATM withdrawal points because of scarcity of new notes after the central bank started to swap old naira notes of the local currency for new ones.
Well, now the question is…How did Nigerians react to this new time of slave trading? Of course Nigerians did not appear to take the short fall of the new bank notes with any leniency.
On Wednesday, February 15th, 2023, protesters took to attack different automated teller machines and blocked roads in 3 cities in Nigeria.
At present, commercial banks in the country have little or no access to cash and ATM withdrawal stands due to the scarcity of the new naira notes, this, of course, has halted the free flow of doing business, as even business owners, transporters are now refusing the old notes causing long queues and stemming anger within customers and disrupting the order of the day.
In Ilorin, Kwara State, The police said some unguided youths In the name of protests that caused unrest at Offa Garage Axis and Access Bank Unity Road, an unidentified spokesperson said that these youths were seen throwing stones into the bank due to the shortage of cash.
Now which way? How did we get here? When does this end? Are all the questions running through the mind of every Nigerian at the moment…..
But in actual fact, what now becomes of Nigerians now, Could all these be politically motivated, or is it just another economic halt in the country. However, it is very important to note is that there was no immediate report of deaths or injuries during this social unrest.
What plans is the government putting in place to tame this situation? Clearly, what stands out vividly is that Nigerians can no longer take any more of this.
This, of course, is happening only less than ten (10) days before the country’s general election.