Feb 21st, 2023 | Naira Scarcity in Nigeria
The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian government launched a new and re-designed Naira note and made the old one worthless.
The newly issued notes are scarce at the moment of writing and haven’t been circulated in the streets or banks.
Most ATMs aren’t dispensing cash and the few that do only give a maximum of ₦2,000 per ATM card and have long queues.
The effects are negative. Riots are erupting in different states across Nigeria, businesses in the streets are taking a break and most people are unable to commute.
On paper, the effects shouldn’t be this problematic because you could either pay with mobile transfer or pay with your debit card but the Nigerian setting is that lots of people (danfo buses, street food vendors, traffic hawkers, aboki etc.) are still unbanked or don't trust transfers from strangers because of yahoo boys and fake alerts or bank networks are shit or they don't know how to read and write.
Personally, I've always had to go source for at least ₦3,000 of the new notes a day before each of the two days I commute to work. I get it from a POS agent by paying a ₦1,000 charge.
₦4,000 to collect ₦3,000 new notes.
For everything else, I pay with mobile transfer or debit card at stores that accepts either.
I use Aku and Kuda for transfers and they’re fast, and have 99.9% up-time services.
PS: The purpose of this article is that I’m writing again.