“No country is run like this,” says Obi; plans to write to Tinubu as citizens forced to buy naira
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) has disclosed his plan to officially write to President Bola Tinubu over the exorbitant charges Nigerians are forced to pay to buy naira from Point of Sale (PoS) operators.
PoS operators are now the main source of naira supply as banks do not have or have but hoard the currency to make more profit through backdoor dealings.
However, PoS entrepreneurs are also under pressure of low margins as both commercial banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have increased charges and introduced caps for PoS operation.
The CBN recently fined some banks billions of naira for failing to stock their automatic teller machines (ATMs) with little effect as the machines are still not loaded with cash in many banks.
And many banks do not pay out more than N20,000 over the counter, regardless of the high amount in a customer’s account.
So, members of the public are forced to patronise PoS operators to access cash in a country that still prefers paper money for a lot of transactions.
Obi lamented the travails of low income earners and the extortionate fees PoS operators charge those seeking to access cash.
He bared his mind in Awka during a visit to the Archbishop Province on the Niger and Bishop of Awka Diocese of Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Alexander Ibezim.
“The hardship in Nigeria is too much, how can the ordinary people survive. The woman who sells pepper by the roadside has to pay huge charges to get her own money. How much is her profit margin and how much will remain after paying charges?” he wondered.
“No country is run like that. Don’t bother to interview me on that, I will write officially to the President on this and state all these things.
“These [PoS charges] are too much, no country is run like this,” Obi told journalists who approached him to speak on the matter.
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