WEIRD THINGS: Nigerians do to make ends meet as cash crunch persists
Taiwo Alimi
April 8, 2023
The cash crunch occasioned by the Naira redesign may be receding but the memories of the hardship it entailed for the generality of Nigerians, especially the length many people went to survive, will linger for some time. TAIWO ALIMI chronicles the touching experiences of Nigerians from all walks of life who had to adopt different strategies to make ends meet during the austere period.
A young lady of between 18 and 22 years old suddenly became a perpetual face at Mobil Fuel Station at Arepo on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.
You might be tempted to take her for an attendant, only that she was not selling fuel or any of the allied products. She was not offering services to motorists either.
But Sola, as the good-looking girl identified herself, would greet motorists with a smile before asking them in a polite manner if they would be paying with cash.
If the response was positive, she would next fish out a Point of Purchase (PoS) machine out of nowhere and offer to pay for your fuel with her ATM.
In turn, she would hand you a ticket, which you would then tender to the petrol attendant for your fuel purchase.
Asked by the reporter what she was up to, Sola first said she was working for the station. Unconvinced by her response, the reporter probed further.
The truth is that I need the cash for my business, she finally confessed.
Sola is a PoS operator, and for her business to survive the cash crunch, she needed to think outside the box and find a ready source of cash outside the banks for her own customers.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had announced last year the redesign of the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.The old notes would cease to be legal tender across the country by 31 January, 2023.
But an acute scarcity of the new notes made the 31 January deadline impossible, and prompted the apex bank, with the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari, to extend the legal tender status of the old notes till 10 February.
The Supreme Court later ruled in favour of some state governors who had taken the matter to court for the CBN to return the old notes to co-exist with the new ones till the end of 2023.
Its not been easy for PoS agents since money became scarce, Sola added.
She had only started the business when the cash crunch began.
She explained: I could not afford to be out of business as I fend for myself and my siblings through it.
She would move from one filling station to the other persuading motorists to let her pay for them with her ATM card while she would collect the cash they should pay to the petrol attendant.
I get lucky on some days and get as much as N20,000, which I take back to my shop for the days business. Sometimes I get less than that because most people dont have cash so they buy fuel with their ATM cards. She also had to be on top of her game to hit that jackpot of N20,000 by looking out for men receptive to her charm and beauty.
Her routine was not without risk, though.
As time went on it became difficult to convince people to part with their naira. I was snubbed some times and some motorists made passes at me and attempted to touch me amorously as a condition for giving up their monies, she said.
So, why is she still coming back?
The cash I collect here puts me in business and the profit is good. I dont pay anything for the money and due to high demand, I make N300 on every N1000. Now, Im charging less: N200 on N1000. As long as the scarcity persists I will continue to go back to fuel stations, she said.
Some other times Sola had to bail out the filling stations whenever they had an issue with their own POS machines.
Her words: There are times when the station has network issues and because I was handy, and in order not to miss sales, I will be called upon for my service. I make a legitimate profit on days like this as I will take my charges without any fuss.
Sola is not alone in this scheme to make ends meet.
At Amuf Oil Station at Magboro also on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, another lady in the profile of Sola was spotted making similar rounds.
She was chatting away with a customer when this reporter noticed her. She moved from one vehicle to the other and even buyers that came with containers trying to press them for their bills. Although some rebuffed her, others readily patronised her.
Gloria cant be more than 25. She is also a PoS agent and she has been in the cash mop-up scheme for one month.
I was introduced to it by another friend in the business. I do my thing within Magboro. Once Im done here and notice that business isnt moving fast, Ill move to another filling station, she said.
There are five fuel-filling points in Magboro, so she has several options. But Gloria said the rendezvous, sometimes, comes with filthy consequences.
She said: Ive been verbally abused by some people.
Just now a woman I approached because I saw her holding a wad of cash screamed at me.
She said I wanted to steal her money.
I simply walked away as people were looking at us.
People like that spoil business for us.
Like Sola and Gloria, Segun Michael, a young graduate working for a blue-chip company in Lagos Island, also frequents fuel stations in his area, though, for a different reason.
Narrating her own experience, she said: I found myself in this precarious position a couple of times, because I did not have enough naira bills to pay for transport to office.
What I did was to go to fuel stations around my house, begging the attendants to give me some cash, so I could transfer to their account. I had to practically go on my knees to get N2,000.
Of course, they made me pay extra charges, which went into their pockets.
Michael said he was driven to take this route after all efforts to beg transporters to take transfer from him or take him for free were rebuffed.
He said: There was a day I spent two hours at the bus stop trying to convince commercial drivers to take money transfer from me to no avail.
At a point, I pleaded with them to take me for free but they also refused.
I had money in my account, but couldnt access it. It was frustrating. On occasion when public transporters agreed to accept transfers from their customers, it was lopsided and at a great loss to the commuters.
Gbemisola Dada, a student of Leed City University, related her experience when she boarded a bus from Ibadan to Lagos during the general elections holiday.
She said: I was returning home from school and had no money on me.
Meanwhile, I had money in my account and I was told that transporters at Challenge Terminus were accepting transfer.
On getting there, I was informed that I would be paying through a PoS operator who was waiting nearby.
To my amazement, I had to part with N4,000 for a N2,000 ride to Lagos. I was angry but there was nothing I could do as school was already shut down.
Many other commutters who could not afford the exorbitant increase in transport fares had to resort to walking.
Lanre Dipo, a factory worker in Ikeja, is in this category.
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