…Traders lament hardship as CBN activities ensure low patronage***
Traders at Kaduna Central Market have begun to lament poor sale, occasioned by the scarcity of the old and redesigned Naira notes, even as prices of essential foodstuffs has dropped in Daura Central Market, due to inaccessibility of the new Naira notes.
Unhappy traders said they had deposited 99 percent of their monies in banks, to keep up to the initial deadline of the old Naira denominations, only to discover that it is now a herculean task, retrieving it.
They lamented that after they deposited their cash, it became difficult and sometimes impossible to get the new currencies to continue their businesses due to very long queues at Automated Teller Machines (ATM) loaded with small amounts of monies across the state.
The few buyers in the markets on the other hand lamented that while the traders were shunning the old Naira notes, it had become, extremely difficult, to obtain the new Naira notes.
The traders further alleged that some of the banks at some points, also ran out of cash even at pay points, inside the banks.
A trader, Hajiya Bashirat Muhammad who sells kitchen utensils, said patronage had reduced drastically.
She said that some of her customers would like to patronise her, but they would always say they didn’t have cash at hand.
Muhammad noted that it was not a problem because she accepted transfers even with the increasing network challenges.
“The problem is how to withdraw the little I made from my business because banks are not putting enough money at ATMs, the long queues alone is something to worry about.
“When you finish exhausting energy at the ATM queues, suddenly they will be unable to dispense cash because they have been exhausted by other customers.
“Before the deadline of the old Naira notes denominations, I took all my old notes to the bank, now to even get them again is a serious problem.
“Yesterday, I had to borrow money from someone for my transport fare to go back home,” she said.
Another trader in Kantin Kwari Motor Park, all within the Central Market, Mrs. Elizabeth Auta who sells food items, also lamented low patronage, saying that people no longer bought things the way they used to.
A buyer in the market, who identified herself as Mama Blessing, said, “I have been in this market since morning to buy things but because I don’t have cash, I couldn’t buy what I wanted.
“I went to withdraw, but some of the ATMs are not dispensing cash. I don’t know what to do because my children need to eat food when they come back from school,” she said.
Also speaking, a Point of Sale (POS) operator, Salisu Yahya, also complained about the scarcity of both the new and old naira notes, noting that it is very difficult to get cash from banks.
He said, “On Monday I was at the ATM before 6 a.m., and after spending more than 4 hours there, I couldn’t get cash, I had to go to another ATM,” he said.
He appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure availability of new Naira notes in order not to push Nigerians into more suffering.
In another development, the prices of essential foodstuffs have dropped in Daura Central Market, due to the inaccessibility of the new
A correspondent who conducted a market survey on Thursday, reports that a sack of grains containing 40 bowl measures which were sold at N20,000 as at the end of 2022, now sells for N14,000 in Daura Central Market.
Malam Ibrahim Alolo, a trader at the market, blamed the price reduction on redesigning of the naira notes because consumers prefer to make a transfer rather than give cash.
He said that onions that was sold for N3,000 in December 2022, has dropped to N1,000 while a basket of tomatoes, which was sold at N3,000 in December 2022, has dropped to N400.
Also, Alhaji Yusuf Ibrahim, a trader, said that a 17-bowl measure of local rice which used to sell for N29,500 is now sold at N25,000, while a bag of maize containing 40-bowl measure which used to sell for N28,000 now sells for N16,000.
He said that the price could have been further reduced if more youths had ventured into agriculture and therefore, advised youngsters to go back to farming in order to permanently tackle food insecurity in the country.
He urged the Federal Government to rehabilitate rural roads to ease farmers’ stress in the transportation of farm produce to urban centres.
Reacting to the development, the Sarkin Noman Daura, Malam Nuradden Hassan, urged the government to embark on measures that would boost food production in Katsina and Nigeria at large.
He expressed optimism that the prices of foodstuff would further drop in the coming month.
Similarly, there had been a decrease also in the prices of other items such as chickens, cooking oil, and red chili pepper, among others.
