The year 2023 is still in its early months, and Nigerians are already complaining about the hardship in the country. Fuel scarcity started late in January and has persisted despite the government's repeated claims that it had enough petroleum products in stock. In many parts of the country, operators of fueling stations sold it at prices higher than the government's pump price, using the situation of the country to extort money from the buyers.

On the other hand, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) redesigned the 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes last year and gave a deadline of 31st January 2023 for swapping the notes. However, the new notes did not go into circulation till the last week of the deadline causing a shift in focus from fuel to cash.

Sadly, the CBN had mopped up the bulk of the old naira notes and has refused to make the new notes available. The CBN must come out clean on this matter, and the banks need to support the apex bank to make this policy work. How can the banks claim they don't have new notes despite claims by CBN that there are enough new notes in circulation? Both cannot be right; Nigerians require an explanation for this.

With the way things are operated in Nigeria are we going to come out of this situation?

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