FCT: Traders Laud CBN Over Availability Of Cash

Some traders in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have expressed delight over the improvement in the availability of naira notes to citizens.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), many markets in Abuja, on Monday, returned to normal daily business activities as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected more naira notes into the commercial banks.

A meat seller, Alhaji Audu Ali, said since the naira scarcity started, business had not been good, adding that most days he had no meat to sell due to the development.

“We use cash to buy the cows from the sellers because most of them don’t believe in cash transfers or have no bank accounts.

“Many people coming to buy from us always do transfers and this makes it difficult for us to buy from the sellers who usually demand for cash before they sell to us,” Ali said.

He, however, said that since Saturday, patronage with cash had gotten better, adding that it had become easier for everyone to do his/her transaction with cash.

Ella Aminu, a civil servant, expressed happiness, as many people now have easy access to cash to do their respective businesses.

According to him, it is now easy for him to get cash from his bank to buy food items, unlike before.

“Lots of citizens had suffered during the period of cash scarcity, as many vendors preferred to do their businesses in cash.

“Again, Point of Sale (POS) operators in the market always charge interest per vendor.

“How much are the salaries of these buyers who are majorly civil servants?” he queried.

Aminu said that in view of the situation, many of the POS operators took advantage of the naira scarcity to make outrageous profits from their customers.

She, however, commended the Federal Government for obeying the Supreme Court judgment extending the use of old naira notes as legal tender till December 31.

Mallam Usman Baba, a vegetable seller, said that he only made little money since the beginning of the naira scarcity.

“Most of my vegetables perished, as I experienced low patronage from my customers but with the recent development, everything is getting better,” he said.