Small business owners in Ayobo, Alimosho area of Lagos state, have called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review its policy on new cashless policy.
Some business owners who are into the selling of basic commodities in the town lamented that they have no knowledge of how the policy works while some of them did not have bank accounts.
Speaking with calabargistblog.com.ng, a cross-section of vegetable sellers, commercial transport drivers, and POS operators in the area expressed fear that the situation would get worst in the coming week.
The CBN has announced and insisted that its January 31 to stop the collection of the old naira notes in circulation would not change while commercial banks have opened on Saturdays and Sundays to receive the old notes from depositors.
Photo Credit: CBN
Source: UGC
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But some of the commercial drivers said the government should not expect them to be collecting transfers for N200, and N300 transport expenses, considering the number of passengers they have to deal with within a short period of time.
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Some of them said they may not work on Monday to see what would happen because they can’t be collecting the money they would not be able to spend while others said they will still take the risk.
A trader and an aged woman identified as Mama laments to calabargistblog.com.ng in the Yoruba language that:
“I am tired of this, I have to start begging people here to help me save the N7000 I have made since morning in their accounts, I don’t know if I will get it back to go to market on Monday because they say the ATMs are not dispensing.”
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POS operators urge government to create enlightenment platform to educate the poor
Temitope Bello, a POS operator calls on President Muhammadu Buhari and CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele to review their stands and suspend the policies.
She said:
“The government should just extend this policy because it affects our business, it affects people selling pepper, it is not easy for many of them to start going cashless, many of them don’t even have bank accounts, how do you want them to buy and sell?
“Maybe the government should consider three to four months extension of the deadline.”
On naira scarcity, she said even the new naira notes are not available in banks, adding that she was there earlier in the day, saving the cash on her only to find out that the ATMs are not dispensing.
“I went there today to withdraw, they said I cannot withdraw at the counter, I have to go and make use of the ATM, I got to the ATM, it was not dispensing, I just have to return home like that.”
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Femi, another POS operator in the area, urged the government to create an enlightenment platform for people that are not well educated, particularly the street traders who do not use banks, to understand what the policy is all about.
He said:
“You need to create a platform to educate the poor people on this policy, people need enlightenment, the people need to know more about what cashless policy is all about. You cannot just introduce a cashless policy to Iyaloja (market women) that are not educated.
“You have to make them informed, let them know what cashless policy is all about, educate them how it is going to work, teach them how to use it.”
Source: calabargistblog.com.ng
