The issue of naira note redesigning and the policy to make the old naira note not useful has so far caused a lot of damage in my country. Last week, the Nigerian president addressed the citizens stating clearly that the #500 note and the #1000 note are no longer legal tenders. This news caused a lot of angry Nigerian youth to start destroying banks and another financial institutes, protesting on the streets, and destroying some properties related to the government. I have mentioned before that if there is a proper circulation of the new note the government wants us to start using, there shouldn't be any problem but no, there is no available cash for the masses. Just limited cash in circulation has so far affected even feeding so many families. Yes, I strongly support a peaceful protest whereby we express ourselves hopefully, our voices can be heard but instead of a peaceful protest, some people crossed boundaries by destroying things and even stealing in the process.
Some days ago, a bank manager not far from my home was killed in the office by an angry Nigerian youth. These guys burnt down the bank building and the manager died in the process. His death further caused other violence in the community, there were gunshots everywhere, and people were running away for their dear life. Schools were forced to shut down immediately and I was so worried over my kids out there, glad they were brought home safely later in the evening that day after the state government deployed Armies to salvage the situation.
The problem with the lack of fiat is a pretty long one over here. Traders are in a bad market because of this. There is a very bad network for bank transfers and this has caused a lot of traders to stop accepting transfer and it's just a few of them that uses the card for payment of goods. So if you don't see where to use a card for payment, you can't buy anything. Even little transportation fee to the market is becoming a nightmare. There has been lots of trekking because of no money, and the unnecessary stress we are going through. A woman in my street was crying ðŸ˜ðŸ˜, weeping over the lack of money to buy food for her children. Of course, she has little money in her bank account but has no access to it and so the hunger she is facing with her kids
My husband spent 2days queuing in the Bank hall just to get #15,000 ($9). After two days in the queue, the bank could only give him $9 to use out of whatever balance he has in the bank. People spend most of their days queuing in the bank nowadays just to access cash. It's indeed terrible here nowadays 😔
The presidential election is in 3 days. The president said that the scarcity of cash is also to curb the politicians from buying voters with money. News reaching to us again is that before and after the election, there may not be a network to avoid any possible cash transfer as well by the politicians. Well, we are all crossing our fingers to know where all these dramas are leading us to.
If you see a Nigerian this time, please give that person a warm hug, we are going through hard times, and we need help indeed.
THANKS FOR READING!!!