PoS Operators Make A Kill As Naira Scarcity Worsens
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Business was good on Monday, February 13, 2023, for Point of Sales (PoS) operators who have now turned Naira sale to a casino with a minimum service charge of N400 for every N1,500 to N2,000 issued out to a customer.
Tola Patrick, a Tokunbo Car dealer who deposited N30,000 old notes with a PoS operator at the Agbara axis of Lagos was made to part with N6,000 after a hard bargain.
The cut-throat charge was triggered by news about the rejection of N200, N500, and N1,000 old notes by banks, supermarkets, filling stations, transporters, traders, and others.
To make matters worse, the big banks in the Agbara area including Zenith Bank shut down offices leaving customers in confusion about whether to continue transacting with the old currency notes or to limit transactions to scarce redesigned notes.
InsideBusiness checks reveal that most PoS operators shut down due to grave scarcity of cash, even the old notes were said not to be available. Some filling stations, shops, and supermarkets that would have also supplied cash to the PoS operators did not open for business.
One of the PoS operators, Susan Uche, told our correspondent that she received a message from her bank advising her to stop the collection of old notes pending further directives from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
She disclosed that the service charge for disbursing N5,000 new currency notes was N1,500 and N3,000 for N10,000. Despite the high-cost margin, customers were desperate to pay but she had run out of few notes available.
Customers Queuing For New Notes Get Stranded At ATMs
Meanwhile, distraught bank customers queued on end to access new naira notes at two ATMs dispensing cash yesterday at Agbara when our correspondent visited the bank avenue, the only place banks are located from Ijanikin to Oko-Afo down to Badagry Roundabout, along the Badagry Mile 2 expressway.
Most of the banks in the area shut down activities yesterday for fear of attacks by distraught customers. Two banks started issuing tally to customers who queued at their ATMs to access cash. At the entrance of a nearby bank, distraught customers were threatening attacks at the firmly locked gate of the bank despite the presence of security men in police uniforms.
The customers were limited to access only the sum of N3,000 at one of the ATMs. A PoS operator who tried to play a smart one by punching the buttons for N20,000 was made to relinquish the money which was transferred back to her account leaving her with only N3,000 like the rest of the customers.
CBN Keeps Mum
As naira scarcity bites harder, embattled CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, is yet to issue further directives after privately meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday at the State House in Abuja, the third time since the cash crisis escalated across the country.
However, the apex bank deployed its senior staff to their respective localities in a desperate move to monitor the distribution of new Naira notes, InsideBusiness learned on Monday.
A usually reliable insider source disclosed that all senior staff from the cadre of senior management to the level of directors were deployed early this morning and are expected to remain at their own localities for the rest of this week to ensure that the target objective is actualized.
However, our correspondent could not confirm the exact number of staff that was so deployed. But it was gathered that every senior staff from the head office as well as those across state branches were drafted to the exercise.
Throughout last week, all CBN senior management staff were on the field monitoring new notes distribution, and they are expected to remain on the field this week till such a time cash scarcity situation threatening confidence in the financial system is resolved.
Emefiele had twice last week held private meetings with the president at his office in the State House ahead of his briefing the Federal Executive Council (FEC) about the currency swap last Wednesday.
The CBN’s deadline of February 10, 2023, elapsed last Friday. However, the Supreme Court over-ruled the CBN on the use of the old currency deadline till February 15, a decision the Federal Government deferred to.
Since then, the apex bank has not issued any official statement to banks or to the public as to the next policy direction leaving the banking public confused as the February 15 Supreme Court interim order on the suit filed by some state governors elapses tomorrow.
While the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, expressed the federal government’s intention to obey the Supreme Court ruling, he said the government would take necessary steps to set aside the interim order, implying the possibility of phasing out the old notes by Wednesday.
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