Nigerians have decried the difficulty in getting cash for their daily transactions, which has negatively affected socio-economic activities in the country.
Both the old and new Naira notes are scarce, hindering their businesses and making it difficult for them to meet basic family needs.
The destitutes who rely on begging for survival are not left out, as they also lament how the Naira redesign policy has impacted their business.
They explain that the scarcity of naira notes is making them to starve as people no longer give them alms.
Destitute who rely on begging as business in Nigeria
In Nigeria, begging actually has become a social business hub for some certain persons in the country. They roam about the streets while others sit down in a particular location begging for money.
They represent different types, but one can sum up some common factors: the majority of them are elderly, children and in bad health status and their family is usually either extremely poor or has fallen apart, which also contributes to the situation that forces them to beg.
With the economic status of Nigeria and cash scarcity, The Quest Times carried out an investigation to know how most of these beggars survive despite the poor circulation of new currency across cities in the country, since their survival depends solely on cash.
The Quest Times spoke with destitutes in Abuja, Kaduna, Warri, Ibadan and Ebonyi, who say the rate at which they receive support from individuals and organisations has dropped due to the naira scarcity across the country.
‘Our children starve at times due to lack of money to buy food for them’
In the heart city of Warri, Delta State, an interview with one of the beggers, Yerima Sodiqe, who is a mother of four children expressed her displeasure that people no longer give them money unlike before due to the scarcity of cash.
“In Warri things have become more expensive than ever. At times we stay without anyone coming around to give us money. But there are people who usually come around with food items to give to us and that is how we manage to feed while there are those who also come around once in a week to give us money to feed.”
She said that government should consider them and make cash available to everyone, so that people that care can also remember that they still exist.
One Shukura Abdullah, a teenager and a mother of two children also said it has not been easy for them this period, especially with the high cost of living in Warri.
She noted that people don’t even have their time any longer, while their children starve at times due to lack of money to buy food for themselves. She went further to narrate how one of her children was harassed by a lady for no reason, just because she was begging from her.
“Even the public attitude towards us has changed, we only hope things turn around soon for life to be easy for everybody for them to remember us and put smiles on our faces,” she said.
‘It is even difficult to get money to transport me back home’
In a Television garage in Kaduna, Abdul Babangida said before the new naira policy, he used to get enough money for his needs and that of his family. He cried out over the decline in alms giving as a result of the scarcity of the new naira notes.
“Before the issue of this new naira note, the money I was getting was enough for my transport fare and my family’s needs.
“But right now, it is even difficult to get the money that would transport me back to the village,” he said.
‘I’m finding it difficult to feed myself and my two children’
Malama Yesufu, one of the women begging along NNPC in Kubwa at Bwari local government area of the Federal Capital Territory, lamented that she is now finding it difficult to feed herself and her two children.
“Since morning that we came out, I only got N100 and I have to take care of myself and these children,” she said.
They appeal to the Federal Government to look into the situation and ease the suffering of the masses.
‘The blind are most affected by the naira scarcity’
Blind Hausa people in Oyo State had cried out that the scarcity of naira notes is making them to starve, as people no longer give them alms.
Chairman of the Blind Hausa People’s Association of Oyo State, Mohammed Ibrahim at Sabo, Ibadan noted that they are most affected by the naira scarcity. He said generous people they used to depend on for help are also facing the same challenge of lack of cash.
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“We are experiencing this cash scarcity more than anyone else. We are people that survive on the help of other people and now that the people that are helping us do not have, it then becomes a bigger challenge for us,” Ibrahim said.
‘Some of us have traveled back to our villages because nothing is coming in again’
At St Theresa where scores of destitute gather in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Gabriel Okikimi, a vision impaired (blind) who lost his sight to glocoma eighteen years ago, told The Quest Times that the current situation affects them badly.
He said; “the cashless economy has affected us badly, in the sense that the good people that do visit us with money, food and other items are not coming again.
“Most of them complained of lack of money, the policy has affected them and also affecting us. We are up to one hundred in number here, some of us have traveled back to our villages because nothing is coming in again.
“Before now, we do get at least N1000 in a day but right now we don’t get anything at all,” he added.
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had extended the deadline for the swap of old N200, N500, and N1,000 nites from January 31 to February 10 following complaints by many Nigerians, but the Supreme Court, after a suit filed by the states, held that the Federal Government, the CBN, commercial banks must not continue with the February 10 deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 22.
However, President Muhammadu Buhari, in a national broadcast last Thursday, directed the apex bank to release old N200 notes into circulation to co-exist with new N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes for 60 days — by April 10, 2023. He also said old N500 and N1,000 banknotes cease to be legal tender in Nigeria.
But the Supreme Court on Wednesday February 22, 2023, adjourned the case to March 3 for judgement.