Lagos: The Scramble for New Currency Notes

Tuesday this week saw me going to a bank early in the morn to get some cash. I needed to get new currency notes as quick as possible. Just as thousands of other citizens of Lagos and Nigeria at large trooped to the banks, the ATM machines, the POS operators around town. So they could lay their hands on the new but elusive currency notes released by the CBN. And as the revised February 10 deadline approached, the scramble for fresh mint became a frenzy.
The broad, covered archway of the popular bank teemed with two to three scores of people. Grumbling voices could be heard here and there; some of them loud and visibly angry. The tension was palpable. It was a ticking time bomb.
One person complained to bystanders how he had arrived since 4 a.m. to no avail. Some others lamented on not having money for transport back to their homes, or workplaces for that matter. While several persons spoke in accord about lacking food to eat – no provisions at home, no breakfast yet. The grumbling voices gradually rose into a rage, young men with bloodshot eyes threatening to break down the bank entrance. Someone needed to quell the approaching tumult. And soon enough, a team of policemen led by a woman shuffled in – some carrying rifles. I took the cue and edged my way to the back of the crowd, far from weapons and the police.
In about twenty minutes, the police boss had managed to bring a bank staff to address everyone (as she had been doing in previous days, she said). The storyline was, “For now we don’t have cash, we endeavoured to pay all through yesterday and our vaults are now empty”, something of that sort. And that all branches of the bank were directed to remain shut from that moment till further notice The grumbling and restiveness had intensified to the point that it was only safe to get away from the premises – and so I did.
The event was a mere glimpse into the discomfiture and frustration of people finding it difficult to access their money. Because old currency notes were being phased out nationwide. It came around the time hordes of people strove to receive their first salary of the year 2023. The impact was nearly back breaking, as it coincided with petrol scarcity and rise in the price of commodities.
The February presidential elections were fast approaching. The CBN put every useful tactic to work, preventing cheating politicians and government top guns as much as possible from hoarding cash. Or bribing vulnerable citizens into stupidity yet again. The new notes were so lightweight, the colours were rumoured to peel off quite easily. Sigh.
The nation had become sore all over from years of militant attacks, kidnapping, inflation, poor governance, high unemployment rate, mass emigration of skilled workers, all kinds of pathetic tales. Would Nigerians be cowed into a foolish recycle of bad leadership yet again? Or would the prevalent suffering this time, wake up the needed strategic thinking and action? To rescue their country from baboons and savages? Fingers crossed, we watch earnestly. Let’s see who wins this time – the abusers or the abused.