With barely two weeks until Christmas and the subsequent New Year celebrations, getting cash in Kaduna, Kano and Katsina States has now become an extremely herculean task.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the results have bemoaned the obnoxious situation which was reminiscent of a similar ugly development during the 2022 yuletide season.

The distrusted residents have therefore called for urgent action by the concerned authorities in order not to hamper the forthcoming Christmas and end-of-year festivities.

In Kaduna City, some Point of Sale (POS) vendors have lamented the unbecoming and unnecessary cash shortage as banks were no longer dispensing cash of more than ₦20,000. Some of the vendors, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said they started experiencing a cash shortage in December.

Adamu Amadu said he got his cash from a businessman by making the transfer to him with little charges.

“We used to charge ₦100 per ₦10,000 transaction but now we charge ₦200 and most of the time our cash finish early due to the high demand.

“I don’t think Nigerians are ready for a cashless policy,” he said.

Similarly, Ibrahim Nur stated that he was only attending to customers requesting lesser amounts ranging from ₦1000 to ₦10,000 only due to the dire dearth of cash. Meanwhile, some customers patronising POS vendors have decried the high service rates, saying that the bank also charges for transactions.

Bilkisu Moda said she visited three POS centres searching for cash, with no positive response, adding that she eventually withdrew from an Automated Teller Machine after trekking a long distance.

On her part, Jamila Sani said she withdrew ₦5,000 and paid ₦100 service fee, which she said was the normal price she usually paid. She urged the government to ease the stress of the masses as most small business owners heavily depended on cash for transactions.

In Kafanchan, the residents have expressed their frustration over the current cash situation in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). Felicia Christopher, a POS operator, told NAN that the situation had greatly impacted her business.

“The lack of cash has seriously affected my business as I don’t make as much profit as before.

“The banks don’t give cash beyond a certain limit in a day and it’s really frustrating,” she stated.

Another POS operator, Sadiq Abdulazeez, explained that the cash crunch had forced him to temporarily shut down operations. An event planner, Bulus Audu, said the lack of information on the cause of the cash shortage was not helping matters.

For Nathaniel Bawa, a civil servant,  he wondered why cash scarcity has become common at the end of every year. Bawa called on the Federal Government to take necessary steps to address the situation as the yuletide season approaches.

NAN reports that most POS operators now collect twice the amount they hitherto charged per transaction as a result of the difficulty in sourcing cash.

In Zaria, Malam Bilyaminu Musa, a businessman, of Layin Zomo Area of Sabon Gari LGA said grains merchants defied risks and reverted to the old style of sourcing cash from Abuja and other parts of the country for their businesses.

He said the cash scarcity had negatively impacted grain businesses at major markets in parts of Kaduna, Kano and Katsina States.

Musa, who trades in maize, cowpea, soybean and pepper, said the influx of merchants from other parts of the country and neighbouring Niger Republic had stabilized the prices of grains in the markets. According to him, most of the merchants were coming with huge amounts of money to purchase the farm produce from the local farmers.

“If not because of these cohorts of merchants, prices of grains would have crashed due to scarcity of cash.

“We are in harvest season now, many farmers are not accepting cash transfers, some do not have bank accounts while others are afraid of fake alerts,’’ Musa added.

He said most of the grain merchants have partners who provide funds for the large-scale purchase of farm produce during harvest season, stressing that cash scarcity was a major bottleneck for the large-scale purchase.

Musa explained that despite receiving such funds from their partners for the large-scale purchase of grains, they find it difficult to access cash from commercial banks.

Similarly, some commercial banks’ customers and Point of Sale (PoS) operators in Zaria have also decried the inability of the banks to give cash in the banking hall.

NAN reports that customers who were in the banks to withdraw cash were informed by the bank officials that they did not have cash. Some of the customers interviewed by NAN expressed sadness over the inability of some of the commercial banks to give them cash for their needs.

Malam Awwal Abdullahi, who spoke after going round many ATM machines to withdraw noted that they had no cash. Abdullahi stressed the need for the Central Bank of Nigeria and other regulators to take concrete actions against some of the commercial banks that were not putting cash in their ATM machines.

In Kano, the residents have raised concerns over the ongoing scarcity of Naira notes across the state, with many resorting to alternative payment methods like POS services, which have also been affected by the crisis.

They said the situation was once again plunging them into hardship, reminiscent of the currency swap period.

The residents urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks to take urgent action to resolve the cash crisis, which is severely disrupting daily life in the state.

Some of the residents, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) explained that the scarcity was making it increasingly difficult for them to meet their daily needs.

A resident, Aliyu Yakubu, lamented the inconvenience caused by the limited access to physical cash, particularly as businesses, transportation, and daily transactions increasingly depend on electronic payment systems.

“I’ve been to several ATMs, but they were either out of cash or not working,” he decried.

He urged the authorities concerned to investigate the matter and punish those responsible. Another resident, Aminu Yusuf, lamented that he was facing difficulty in paying for goods, and customers were also struggling to buy from him.

Yusuf called on CBN to make more cash available and also sanction banks that hoard cash. A civil servant, Aisha Ali, voiced her frustration over the difficulties she has been facing. She explained how it has become increasingly challenging for her to purchase essential household items due to the unavailability of cash.

“It is my hard-earned money and i can’t access it, especially at the bank. It’s frustrating, and it’s putting me in a very difficult situation,” she stated.

Ali also called on CBN to urgently take action against the banks and persons responsible for the cash shortage. A POS agent, Nura Abubakar, blamed the commercial banks for the difficulties in accessing cash.