{"id":81516,"date":"2023-02-02T18:59:44","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T17:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities"},"modified":"2023-02-02T20:14:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T19:14:34","slug":"imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities","title":{"rendered":"Imo residents lament as new naira scarcity cripples activities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Residents of Owerri, the capital of Imo State, on Thursday, expressed their anguish at having to wait hours in line to use Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or do other banking operations.<\/p>\n

Most banks\u2019 ATMs were crowded with hundreds of residents trying in vain to withdraw cash to cover their urgent necessities.<\/p>\n

The scarcity of the new naira notes in Owerri engendered a conducive atmosphere for emergency hawkers of the naira currency to thrive and exploit helpless citizens.<\/p>\n

While some POS customers were charging 10 percent on every withdrawal, leading to approximately N1,000 charge for N10,000, others charged N200 for N4000 transactions in new notes and some demanded N150 for N2000.<\/p>\n

A commercial bus driver, Mr. Stanley Emeana, told DAILY POST it is not the best of times for the people of Imo, who recently had to deal with persistent petrol shortages, deteriorating power supply and inflation. The situation has now been worsened by the haste to meet the deadline of February 10 for the removal of old banknotes from circulation.<\/p>\n

He explained that on Sunday, a large number of Imo State citizens using old currency were stranded and those who went to the market were unable to complete purchases or retrieve their balance using the old currency.<\/p>\n

Doreen Ekeh, a civil servant and staff of Imo State Ministry of Information, expressed disappointment that the situation at the filling stations was the same and that motorists are still paying between N350 and N450 per litre.<\/p>\n

She claimed to have gone to the bank today to withdraw money but was informed that she could only deposit because neither the ATMs nor the banking halls were paying.<\/p>\n

The sad reality, according to her, is that citizens are stranded.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany are unable to withdraw their money, and marketers and small-time dealers aren\u2019t making any money because customers aren\u2019t coming in to buy,\u201d she lamented, calling on relevant authorities to intervene.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should look into the matter and change the policy for us, it\u2019s not at all in our favour,\u201d she remarked.<\/p>\n

Chronicling her woes, petty trader Uche Elendu said she spent an hour on a queue before she could withdraw N5,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ATM would only give you half of what you requested if you weren\u2019t a client of the bank where you attempted to withdraw money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The ordeal of Nnaemaka Obi, a secondary school teacher, was not different.<\/p>\n

His words: \u201d I have been here for over an hour waiting to withdraw my money, after three people withdrew about N30,000, the ATM stopped dispensing. When we queried what went wrong, the bank officials told us that the money had finished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obi said: \u201cThis is annoying, if they know that they do not have the new notes to give to us, it is better for them to still be collecting the old one, while the new one is still coming as it is presently not in circulation. \u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Points of Sales, POS, agents in the city did not help the situation.<\/p>\n

A POS agent, Chinedu Ozuromba, told DAILY POST: \u201cI would only accept N1,000 for every N10,000 cash of the new currency you desire.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked to justify his position, he explained: \u201cI went through hell and paid through the nose before I obtained the new notes. I\u2019m not sure where they acquired the new notes, but if you visit Ama Hausa in Owerri, you can receive as much as you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Residents of Owerri, the capital of Imo State, on Thursday, expressed their anguish at having to wait hours in line to use Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or do other banking operations. Most banks\u2019 ATMs were crowded with hundreds of residents trying in vain to withdraw cash to cover their urgent necessities. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":81515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[1570,2140,1018,254],"class_list":["post-81516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-imo","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nImo residents lament as new naira scarcity cripples activities - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Residents of Owerri, the capital of Imo State, on Thursday, expressed their anguish at having to wait hours in line to u ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Imo residents lament as new naira scarcity cripples activities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Residents of Owerri, the capital of Imo State, on Thursday, expressed their anguish at having to wait hours in line to u ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-02T17:59:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-02T19:14:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675351808.62.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"693\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Imo residents lament as new naira scarcity cripples activities\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-02T17:59:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-02T19:14:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities\"},\"wordCount\":591,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675351808.62.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Imo\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/imo-residents-lament-as-new-naira-scarcity-cripples-activities\",\"name\":\"Imo residents lament as new naira scarcity cripples activities - 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