New Telegraph

NigeriaDecides2023: Naira Scarcity Hinders Voters From Travelling For Elections

As the preparation for Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections are in top gear, there are strong indications that the lingering new Naira notes scarcity may affect some Nigerians from exercising their franchise during the polls.

Due to the Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and fuel scarcity ravaging the country, it was gathered that Nigerians who desired to travel for the elections were finding it difficult.

Since the launch of the new naira notes of N1,000, N500, and N200 in December, public access to money has been difficult owing to their scarcity in banks, ATMs and Point of Sales (PoS) terminals across the country.

According to the report by Dailytrust in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), only a few commuters were seen as they lamented the cash crunch.

At a motor park in Gwagwalada, Emeka Johnson, who was heading for Imo State, said he was travelling for the election despite the naira crisis.

It was observed that while some of the transporters accepted payment by transfer, others insisted on collecting cash.

At a motor park in Gwagwalada, Emeka Johnson, who was heading for Imo State, said he was travelling for the election despite the naira crisis.

“The naira scarcity is something else, and even the PoS operators we normally rely on, despite the huge charges, are nowhere to be found. I even learnt it is worse in the East,” he said.

At Zuba garage, Solomon Ogunleye, who was going to Ekiti State, lamented the increase in transportation fares.

“I travelled early this year and it cost me N4,000 but now it has been increased to N7,000 while some drivers are insisting on collecting cash. This is enough reason to discourage people from travelling to cast their votes,” he said.

Nsikak Epenyong, an engineer, said travelling to Akwa Ibom from Abuja before was N11,000 via non-air conditioned bus and N13,000 with an air-conditioned bus but now it is N16,500 and N18,500, respectively.

While in Maiduguri, passengers are now rushing to Borno Express Mass Transit where they pay transport fares through PoS machines.

One of the park officials, Adamu Alhaji Yakubu, said they had been receiving passengers in hundreds travelling within and outside Borno State.

He said, “Like any other election period, the volume of passengers has also increased this time around, despite the cash crunch that people are facing. You can see mass transit buses from different states, and each one has PoS machines through which passengers pay fares into the state government accounts using.

“People have been coming here to travel to Kano, Kaduna, Gombe, Plateau, Nasarawa, Katsina, and the rest, and this has been on since last week,” he said.

Yakubu said people were also travelling to local government areas, especially southern Borno.

One of the passengers, Muhammad Bayero, told our correspondent that he was travelling to Kaduna to spend the election period there.

“It is always good to go home and cast your vote there, at least you will stay with your family, especially during the election period because one cannot predict what would happen. Basically, this is why I’m travelling home,” he said.

Another traveller, Naomi Eleja, who was travelling to Biu LGA, said she registered in Miringa town and it is where she feels safer to stay during the elections.

“I arranged to travel with my family members but ended up being the only one to hit the road because of the economic situation. I don’t have enough money to pay for everyone, and the issue of scarcity of cash also affected some of them.

“Believe me, many people would not vote this time around because of the current situation in the country, and things have kept getting worse by the day,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the conventional motor parks, when Daily Trust visited, the commercial vehicles were scanty and passengers complained that some drivers were not accepting transfers.

“You have to pay cash or else you wouldn’t board their vehicle. We are facing a lot of difficulties travelling this time around,” she said.

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