Residents of Abuja are now facing extreme challenges navigating their daily transit to work and school, as transporters insist on cash payments amid Nigeria’s ongoing nationwide cash shortage.
A Nairametrics survey on Monday, February 20, showed that this is just one of the many ways the cash scarcity challenge has affected many Abuja residents.
Long ATM queues: Like many Nigerians across the country, many Abuja residents have been spending long hours at ATM stands to get new naira notes for transportation fares.
Sophia Nnamani, who spoke to Nairametrics, said that over the weekend, she spent hours at two different ATM queues close to her location at Garki. According to her, many people crowd ATMs daily but the queues become worse during the weekends because the demand is higher than the supply.
She said some people end up leaving the ATM points empty-handed after waiting for hours and it is just not right. She said:
- “I understand that the federal government is only trying to ensure free and fair elections but we the common Nigerians are truly suffering. We need cash for transport fares because these commercial drivers only want cash, they don’t take payments through online transfers. How do we manage this situation?”
Challenges commuting across town: Amid the cash scarcity, Abuja residents now struggle to leave their homes earlier to catch public buses which typically charge N200 per drop. Mr Usman Bahago, who lives in the Mararaba axis of Nasarawa State but works in Abuja, told Nairametrics that he has to leave his home earlier than usual these days because he does not have new Naira notes to pay for inflated transport fares. According to him, inflated prices sometimes go up to N300 or N350, or N400 per drop. He said:
- “The old Naira notes are no longer accepted by transporters. My saving grace is President Buhari’s decision to revalidate the old N200 note. I have to leave very early to catch Ministry buses that charge N200 per drop. If I am late, regular buses charge N300 per drop and I don’t have N500 or N1000 notes. I would rather just pay N200 and go my way in peace.”
Why transporters insist on cash: Mr Segun Lawal, a transporter who plies the popular Nyanya-AYA-Wuse route in Abuja, told Nairametrics that he insists on cash payments from his passengers because he needs cash to settle his daily needs. He said:
- “Most of these boys collecting payment levies for the district, do not even understand what online transfers are, they only know cash. I have a bank account but if I allow payments into my bank account, how do I pay my daily levies? I also need cash to buy pure water if I get thirsty on the job. Does the government think pure water sellers take online payments?”
What you should know: Following an earlier decision to halt the ban on old Naira notes, on Wednesday, February 22, the Supreme Court will be hearing the case on the naira swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara states had earlier dragged the Federal Government to court over the Naira redesign policy.
- However, the court has now joined Katsina, Lagos, Cross Rivers, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Sokoto States as co-plaintiffs in the suit challenging the Naira redesign policy of the Federal Government.
