Naira scarcity squeezes PoS operators, couples fuel palaver to ground living
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
More than half Point of Sale (PoS) operators nationwide have shut down due to scarcity of naira notes, new and old, exacerbated by a lack of fuel supply, another double whammy of afflictions unleashed by Muhammadu Buhari’s incompetence.
Hussein Olanrewaju, the National Chief Aggregating Officer of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, who disclosed the business closures, said naira shortage has worsened the plight of operators.
He canvassed for money agents to be given priority access to new notes, lamenting some Nigerians have taken advantage of the situation to charge unreasonable fees.
“Operators are licensed bodies that provide platforms which agents leverage on. Currently, agents do not have any preferential treatment to deliver this service, hence, more than 50 per cent of agent shops have been closed down as we speak.
“Some agents, however, go to the extreme to buy these monies and those who do not, move from one ATM point to another incurring a lot of cost in the process which will also reflect on the service charge,” Olanrewaju told The PUNCH.
“It’s worthy to note that some Nigerians have taken advantage of this situation to charge people unreasonable charges.”
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Need to include more agents
Olanrewaju warned the policy meant to swap cash in unbanked areas may not achieve its mandate because of the low number of agents selected for the scheme.
He said including more agents is the best solution the financial stress.
“As designed by the CBN [Central Bank of Nigeria], the exercise is going as expected. However, it doesn’t really translate to profit for agents.
“Out of over 1.4 million agents, only 30,000 agents were picked to participate in the cash swap programme, the number is too small and can barely effect any change.
“Agents are the ones available and accessible to ease the financial stress Nigerians are currently facing.”