The redesign of the Nigerian currency (the naira) forced the Nigerian economy into a cashless policy; even petty traders who sell fruits in my school now accept cash transfers as a means of payment for goods bought. The redesign of the naira hindered the circulation of naira notes as the central bank of Nigeria issued a memorandum rendering all old naira notes useless as they cease to be legal tender.
Every citizen was forced to return all naira notes to the bank and got nothing in return. The central bank governor comes on TV and tells us the new notes are in circulation, but citizens cannot lay their hands on the new notes as they are nowhere to be found, and not even banks have cash to offer anyone.
For the past two months, automated teller machines no longer dispense cash; they are just there for nothing. People who operate POS saw it as an opportunity to make more money; they normally charge people the sum of 200 naira ($0.45) to give them the sum of 10,000 naira ($21.8), but ever since the cashless policy stepped in, they now charge the sum of 4,000 naira ($8.7) to give the sum of 10,000 naira.
People who are desperately in need of cash are left with no other choice than to pay that huge sum of money to collect such a small amount; it was never like this, and we never thought it would ever get to this point. After putting Nigerians through so much stress, many people had to shut down their businesses as there was no cash and not everyone fully accepted the cashless policy. Many feared getting scammed, so they preferred to shut down than go into a cashless transaction.
Nigerians have been suffering and struggling to survive, and until a few weeks ago, when the Supreme Court ordered that the old naira notes remain legal tender, many people still did not accept them as legal tender. They declined to sell to whoever is in possession of the old notes, saying the central bank has not said anything about it and they cannot accept it because the Supreme Court passed their judgment.
This has been the situation until yesterday, when the central bank also released a memorandum stating that the old naira notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023. My only question is why they put Nigerians through so much stress if they were going to go back on their word and put so many businesses on hold.
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