SCARCITY

Today, let’s talk about scarcity. It is no news regarding the scarcity of both fuel and physical cash in Nigeria.  While the former is driven by volatility in the oil and gas sector the latter is a result of the recent policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria to redesign and phase out some denominations of the currency in order to fight corruption, curb insecurity, stop vote buying,  lower inflation amid other economic gains. The N200.00, N500.00, and N1,000.00 notes have been redesigned with a fixed on when the old note should be illegal and cease to be legal tender.

 Nigerians have not been able to adapt to the new change as there is scarcity of these notes. The old notes have been phased out without the corresponding new notes fully in circulation. ATM machines are still dispensing the old N200.00 and restricted amount of the new notes with claims of the new naira notes unavailability. This has compounded the situation and made it difficult for the new note to circulate freely.

The Issue has become a matter of national urgency as the common man has no physical cash to make payments for daily activities. This has made feeding, transportation, and paying for essential things difficult as the exchange of goods and services in Nigeria is mainly on a cash basis.

Starvation has become the order of the day as most Nigeria have little or no access to either the old acceptable N200.00 or the new currencies. Queues are now a common sight at ATM points nationwide. People sleep at the ATM point due to the long queue or go as early as 4 A.M to stand a chance of withdrawing a maximum of N20,000.00. Traders have been largely affected by this especially the petty traders as it has been difficult for them to make sales with the restricted cash flow, and the economy is declining.  Buying and selling are almost impossible.

The marmot crowd in the banking halls is alarming, banks have become difficult to access as most banks strongly restrict the entrance to the banking halls due to fear of being attacked by angry customers. Bankers have become overwhelmed with the current situation living in fear of being attacked. There are videos trending on social media of people causing ruckuses at banks and setting banks ablaze with some resultant deaths recorded.

The alternative to ATM is online banking or sourcing cash through POS agents. While online banking is helpful, not all providers of goods and services are readily disposed to adopt this channel. The other option of sourcing cash via  POS agents is readily available but the related charges are exorbitant as they charge as high as 20% on each withdrawal.

There is also fuel scarcity as fuel price has risen to ₦300+ per liter. Only a few sell at regulated  ₦185.00 per liter with queues long enough to disrupt the free passage vehicles causing heavy traffic. In some instances, we have people also sleeping at fuel stations just so they could get fuel. This new order has affected productivity as people wake up as early as 4 A.M to search  for either cash or fuel