₦airaland Forum

There is a surge in the hawking of naira notes at exorbitant charges in different parts of the country, as Nigerians continue to struggle with limited access to cash in banking halls despite threats by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The CBN had warned that it would penalise Deposit Money Banks found supporting the hawking of naira notes.

In a circular dated November 13, 2024, signed by the acting Director of Currency Operations, Muhammad Olayemi, and released to the public on Friday, November 15, the CBN warned DMBs against cash hoarding and diversion, emphasising that such actions would attract stiff penalties.

However, our correspondents who monitored the situation in some major cities between Thursday and Friday, reported that while many Nigerians still struggled to access cash in banking halls, hawkers had cash in abundance, selling at exorbitant rates despite the CBN’s month-long threats.

Cash hawking spree

A mint note seller in the Agege area of Lagos, who identified herself as Adebimpe, revealed that she charges N7,000 for N20,000 new notes.

“It is difficult to get cash these days because the bankers have increased their charges. Sometimes, they take as high as N3,000 on N10,000 new notes. We have to add our gains too. It’s business,” she said.


When Saturday PUNCH approached a banker in the state, pretending to need new mint naira notes, the bank worker disclosed that she often sold N200,000 mint notes for N230,000, making a gain of N30,000.

When asked why some bankers sold naira notes, the worker said, “It is not that you can’t get this cash for free. But the process of getting it inside the bank is not easy. That is why even we, bank workers, have to settle some people to bring the cash notes out for us.”

Another bank worker in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that “cash dealers” who resold at parties and social gatherings boughtN20,000 for N25,000 and N100,000 for N120,000.

He disclosed that freshly minted naira notes were not usually available to bank customers over the counter, “but we have special arrangements for cash dealers who specialise in reselling at parties and social gatherings.”

A cash dealer, who identified herself as Rafiu, told one of our correspondents that there was a high demand for fresh naira notes at weddings and burials.

“The business is lucrative. For instance, we make N8,000 on N20,000, while N100,000 attracts a gain of N25,000 to N30,000. We have arrangements with bank officials who sell naira notes to us at agreed rates,” Rafiu said.

Bank officials and private deals


In Osogbo, the Osun State capital, Saturday PUNCH found that cash trading also thrived, with some hawkers revealing that they bought and sold the mint meant for bank customers.

Investigations revealed that some bank officials prioritised selling mint to high-end clients at agreed prices.

The officials, often from new-generation banks, collaborated with cash dealers to profit from the notes.

A mint seller said, “We always meet outside the bank premises whenever they want to give me the money. Bank officials sell N20,000 worth of mint in N200 denominations to me at N5,000, while I pay between N8,000 and N10,000 for N50,000 worth of mint.”

She added that she resold N20,000 mint at N28,000 and N50,000 mint at N65,000 to customers.

At clubs, she charges N30,000 for N20,000 mint and N70,000 for N50,000 mint.

In Ibadan, Oyo State, Saturday PUNCH observed a similar trend on Iwo Road, where traders sold cash at increased rates.


Akeem, a trader, disclosed that N10,000 in minted notes now costs N2,000, while N50,000 is sold for N5,000.

Another trader, Ibrahim Bako, attributed the rising rates to the prevailing economic situation.

“Everything has increased. We used to sell N5,000 for N1,000, but now it is N2,000. The difference is small, but it has gone up because of the situation in the country,” he said.

Shops hawk in Imo

Given the scarcity of money in Imo State, especially for Point of Sale operators, big shops, supermarkets and filling stations have resorted to making extra gain by hawking their cash.

A PoS operator, who gave his name as Emeka, said, “We buy the money from big shops, supermarkets and even filling stations depending on your contacts.”

The owner of a big shop in Ekeonunwa market, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “We want to ensure the scarcity of money is addressed.


“Instead of going to the bank to deposit the money and the same bank will collect interest rates and give you less than N20,000 across the counter, it’s better we hawk it to the PoS operators and make extra gain. We don’t sell anything less than N100,000.”

When contacted on Thursday and Friday regarding actions taken by the apex bank weeks after issuing the threat, and how many banks had been sanctioned for disobeying its order, the CBN acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Ali, did not respond to calls or messages.

Bank directors react

Speaking to Saturday PUNCH, the Chairman of the Bank Directors Association of Nigeria and Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr Mustafa Chike-Obi, condemned the practice of cash hawking and called for the arrest and prosecution of any bank worker found culpable.

He said, “In every business, you will find individuals who try to break the rules. However, banks have no interest in selling mint notes. Anyone engaging in such practices is acting outside the guidelines of the bank.

“If you know of any such persons, please, expose them because these actions occur without the knowledge or approval of the banking system. We are 100 per cent against it. It does not benefit us in any way. Any staff involved in this should be apprehended and punished.

“As the chairman of Fidelity Bank, if any of our staff engage in such activities, we will report them to the police. They will be arrested and dismissed.


“The banking system does not condone such behaviour. Therefore, people should not label this as a systemic issue. It is a highly unusual occurrence. While one or two individuals may be involved, as a banking system, we are 100 per cent against it.”

He attributed the troubling trend to the insufficient cash supply in banks, saying, “We will file the appropriate reports with the CBN to request more cash because it does not help us when our customers come looking for cash and we do not have it.

“Like I have said, the root cause of this problem is the insufficient supply of cash, and this is being addressed by both the banks and the CBN. However, let me add this: the CBN’s current monetary policy aims to reduce inflation and stabilize the exchange rate.

“To achieve this, they must mop up excess liquidity in the system. So, some of what you are observing may be a consequence of the CBN’s efforts to reduce liquidity in the economy.”

In his reaction, a human rights lawyer, Festus Ogun, called on the security agencies, especially the police and men of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to join the CBN in waging war against the cash hawkers.

The Force Public Relations Officers, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, did not respond to calls and messages made to his telephone lines by one of our correspondents on Friday morning and has not returned the call as of the time of filing this report.

Source: https://punchng.com/Business-booms-for-naira-traders-as-bankers-collusion-worsens-scarcity

Scarcity of cash is caused by all these POS operators

If bank put N5m in ATM, one POS operator can withdraw N400k from it and sometimes u may have like 20 POS operators that will collect average of N200k daily from that very ATM, then the rest of us will manage 1m.
And banks don't even have much money cos people don't deposit money again, they now know that they can sell to POS, thanks to Emefiele wickedness.

They are a menace to the society

What is wrong with us?

3 weeks back, zenith bank atm was only paying 4000 naira per time in 200 naira notes. And out of 8 atms only one was paying so you can imagine the queue. The line was not moving for over 40 minutes. Why? A POS operator was withdrawing money. She needed 150k. Mind you, the atm was only paying 4k per time. I have never in my life imagined strangling someone before but that day I came close.

FG should make it mandatory that u can have only one ATM card with ur BVN and the highest amount u could withdraw a day is 150k.
U will see how this scarcity of cash will be a thing of the past, cos some of those POS people have like seven ATM cards

This situation exposes deep structural and regulatory gaps in Nigeria’s financial system. Addressing it requires coordinated efforts by the CBN, law enforcement, and businesses to ensure fair and ethical economic practices.

Pos with 20 ATM won't allow us even draw money. As soon as the machine is loaded, boom they show up, withdrawing everything. To make matters worse, some bank staff will inform them when they are loading the ATM. Then you will see like 10 pos with 20 ATM.

Nawaaoo

Cbn is selling to abokis that sell it direct at the markets

Cbn is to blame and not the banks. Thats why no bank has yet been sanctioned

Naira Scarcity... History continues to repeat itself in this 3rd world nation.

richmond500:
FG should make it mandatory that u can have only one ATM card with ur BVN and the highest amount u could withdraw a day is 150k.
U will see how this scarcity of cash will be a thing of the past, cos some of those POS people have like seven ATM cards

I disagree with this.

N150k daily to an individual is too much.

Most businesses now accept transfers and POS, so why should one person have access to N4.5M raw cash every month?

N50k cash per week is still much more reasonable.

Instead of all these stress, I better run transfer

And they tag this as good news. selling naira for naira.

Hmmmm

Cashless policy needs more enforcement and tax more cash transactions.

Atm with cash deposit is needed so as to help traders and business owners deposit daily or weekly cash transactions to their respective banks.

Going through some banking hall stress is another major reason most people patronize POS operators

.

richmond500:
Scarcity of cash is caused by all these POS operators

If bank put N5m in ATM, one POS operator can withdraw N400k from it and sometimes u may have like 20 POS operators that will collect average of N200k daily from that very ATM, then the rest of us will manage 1m.

They are a menace to the society

Don’t we have a president, who is the CinC for upholding the law, by punishing those who violate our laws

richmond500:
FG should make it mandatory that u can have only one ATM card with ur BVN and the highest amount u could withdraw a day is 150k.
U will see how this scarcity of cash will be a thing of the past, cos some of those POS people have like seven ATM cards

Trust me Nigerians will find a way

They will borrow their relatives ATM CARDS and still do the same...

omoredia:
Cbn is selling to abokis that sell it direct at the markets

Cardi B on the beat.
Maybe he will be worse than Emefiele, just like T-Pain is showing himself to be worse than clueless Buhari and his extreme poverty shege policies.

Only in Nigeria. The government enabled this since they refused to force a cashless economy and nip this naira trade in the bud.

I wonder if there's any other country in the world where the local currency is traded on the streets in a scale as Nigeria's

Moseshasss:
Trust me Nigerians will find a way

They will borrow their relatives ATM CARDS and still do the same...

how many of their relatives ATM can they borrow?

Highest three or four relatives, it's better than one person having 15 ATM cards.
Also why will I give u my ATM card when I know u could exhaust my daily limit and I'll be stranded?

If u have ever wait in queue when these people are withdrawing, u go vex tire, some times they will finish the money in the machine and those behind them will have no choice but to withdraw from them.

richmond500:
FG should make it mandatory that u can have only one ATM card with ur BVN and the highest amount u could withdraw a day is 150k.
U will see how this scarcity of cash will be a thing of the past, cos some of those POS people have like seven ATM cards

Abi oh

richmond500:
FG should make it mandatory that u can have only one ATM card with ur BVN and the highest amount u could withdraw a day is 150k.
U will see how this scarcity of cash will be a thing of the past, cos some of those POS people have like seven ATM cards

they'll still borrow from friends, neighbor, family members etc

welcome to monkey republic

adenigga:
Source: https://punchng.com/Business-booms-for-naira-traders-as-bankers-collusion-worsens-scarcity

Na who u see u go arrest....bank official give him person mint note the person advertise currency for sale u need him service who u wan arrest..the person u catch no deyvwork for bank .

adenigga:
Source: https://punchng.com/Business-booms-for-naira-traders-as-bankers-collusion-worsens-scarcity

a very useless report filled with lies. How POS merchants became bank workers befuddles the mind.

D

Wetin Man do man. I used my money to buy my money.

I can never pity nigerians

Whatever calamity they find themselves in, they totally deserve it

richmond500:
Scarcity of cash is caused by all these POS operators

If bank put N5m in ATM, one POS operator can withdraw N400k from it and sometimes u may have like 20 POS operators that will collect average of N200k daily from that very ATM, then the rest of us will manage 1m.

They are a menace to the society

are you sure? I thought there is a limit?

Something you get for free up north.

🤦🏽‍♀️