By Folaranmi Ajayi
Students in Osun state are having a fair share of the agonies of the cash crunch due to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign. .
These students who see themselves as the most vulnerable and affected by the naira redesign and the CBN’s forced cashless policy say they have been put under severe pressure because they cannot withdraw cash anywhere because of unavailability of the new notes.
The students told Edugist that traders, food sellers, vendors,bike riders, and business outlets in the state have all refused to accept the old naira notes leaving so many students stranded and worried.
Earlier, Edugist had reported that students studying in some areas in the state such as Iree, Ikirun, Ada, Agba have no banks in some of the students populated communities. Students resort to the use of point of sales (POS) agents.
The hardship bites harder for students in the state when these POS kiosks in the state give old naira notes to customers at outrageous charges, while some traders and bike riders in the state continue to reject the old naira notes.
Through a survey, Edugist gathered that most of the POS kiosks in the state charge 20 per cent on all cash withdrawal from the students.
Speaking with Micheal Obisesan, a final year student of mass communication, he said; “The POS users charge #200 per withdrawal of #1000 which means #2,000 is the charged fee for a withdrawal of #10,000.”
Another student from the state’s metropolis, Osogbo, told Edugist that accessing cash in the past three weeks has been a battle.
“My name is Adeshola, I am a student of Osun State University. I have been begging to feed myself since the beginning of the month, this is because I have no access to cash and the POS merchants are over charging everyone.
“I can’t afford to miss any of my classes so what else will I do than drink garri before and after class and sometimes, when I am lucky I borrow money from friends or do a transfer to anyone merciful to share cash.”
Despite the POS agents’ outrageous charges, students who spoke with Edugist say most of the traders and bike riders reject the old naira notes, notwithstanding the fact that many POS kiosks give out the same notes with little or scantily available new notes.
Meanwhile, some students of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree have narrated their ordeals in a chat with Edugist’s reporter, showing that some popular pharmacies in the community [name withheld] also reject the old naira notes..
Toromade, a final year student of Microbiology hinted that in the Iree community there is a popular mini mart in the whole Iree community where students can get groceries and health related items. She told Edugist that they also reject the old notes.
One of our campus correspondents who visited the popular mini mart in the institution confirmed this.
Many of the students have decried the unavailability of internet banking at some traders’ shop as many of these traders are not exposed to digital transfer of money and at the same time rejecting the old naira notes.
The students have called on the state government to come to their rescue and avert potential chaos.
