Petrol And Cash Scarcity: Nigerians How Are You Coping?

The cost of living for cash-strapped Nigerians is rising due to the ongoing shortages of naira notes and fuel scarcity in Africa’s most populous country.

There have been stories of frustration and outrage since the N200, N500, and N1,000 naira notes became scarce commodities after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted a currency redesign. For those who rely on cash for their day-to-day activities, the Naira shortage has taken a toll on their finances.

We lose time while waiting in line to get fuel or cash. And it affects everything. Almost everyone is losing his or her sanity.

Many Nigerians will never forget the unspeakable hardships they are experiencing for the past month or so due to the scarcity of fuel and lack of cash.

After battling with fuel shortages, many households are under pressure as citizens are unable to obtain the cash they need for their daily lives. The truth is, dealing with the shortage of new naira notes has not been easy at all.

Below are People’s opinions on the matter;

“If am to write an epistle on this Saga ehn, It’s going to take a whole year of writing. To start with fuel, slim chances of you getting fuel and arriving at your place of work easier and more comfortable it’s a 30% game… While the cases of cash scarcity are the worst thing anyone could ever imagine. Much blame is been pushed on the Bank managers.

“The new money is not in circulation yet the POS operators/ celebrities have them and are selling it at a higher bid to the masses who need it for their daily needs. God bless Nigeria
God bless me.

Mrs. Janet

Another Nigerian identified as Mr. Franklin said, “Nigerians are beginning to know the importance of cash hold management, that is to say, a varied financial management is open to the ordinary man on the street, cash hold and other cash channels that are in the wallets like ATM, token, and pos.”

He continued, “cash is now used for immediate needs like transport and other items that are less expensive while transfer or the use of ATM card are now used for bulk purchases for household goods even fuelling, this became important because cash is not available at the moment but so much money in your bank account, hence this initiative of going cashless.”

“On fuelling, this product has become too difficult for Nigerians citizen to use, from October last year, this said product have risen with over 110%, it might interest you to know that, some private filling stations now sell far and above N300, some sell N320, N350, when I travelled I bought a litre for N500 but at the moment in Lagos NNPC first royal, bovas are selling at N185 per litre and other privately owned filling stations still sell at outrageous prices, yet the product is not available to buy, how the situation is managed now is whenever we see que at nnpc, first royal and bovas, we also queue, sometime we buy and most times we don’t, either the fuel is finished or the nozzle is having issue and cannot pump further fuel, at this time, we either leave our car there or manage it home, it has not been easy, we just hope the government and other individual marketers of the said petroleum products know and feel the pain of everyone and make this product available for our general consumption.”

“But we will certainly survive.”

Mr. Franklin

“The truth is that God has been supplying the needs. For instance, I was able to get some cash from a neighbor on Friday. I also got some cash from church yesterday from the transport fare.”

Mr. Solomon

“Am stretched out. I don’t even want to think of it. Imagine at Mushin, someone bragging of giving 20k to pay 24k. Where is that done🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Mrs. Akindolani

It’s been tough. But I just have to find a way to survive it. Set your priorities right, Don’t spend excessively, Limit how you go out, Most things I buy now I do transfer. I believe after the election, things will get better.

Mr Cezan