Naira Redesign: Fake Money Transfer Rock Onitsha Main Market Says Chairman
By Julie Sylvia, Onitsha
The caretaker committee chairman of Onitsha main market, Chief Innocent Ezeoha said that no fewer than eight cases of fake money transfer are being performed daily at the market.
The Chairman made this disclosure while fielding questions from newsmen Wednesday, on how the naira redesign is affecting traders in the market.
He lamented that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, introduced cashless policy for better economy but eventually failed Nigerians by putting them into hardship to the extent that it is not easy for the people to have access to the new notes.
“Some don’t even see the transfers being made to them. Few of such victims are reporting their cases here in the secretariat, that is those who summoned courage to come here. Some go to the police and others go to the vigilante groups to lodge their complaints to know if they will recover their money.
“In a day, we record about three to four cases officially because you have scores that don’t report their cases here, so on the whole about eight cases of fake money transfers daily but officially four are recorded in our secretariat. So people are finding it difficult to survive these days and something very urgent should be done to curtail the sufferings of Nigerians,” he pleaded.
He recalled that the CBN team stormed the market earlier and flagged off the new redesigned naira notes in the market and assured the traders that on 31st January, 2023, the old naira notes will seize to exist, and traders hurriedly rushed to the banks and paid all their old naira notes.
“Now even the Point of Sales, POS, cannot give the new naira notes, thereby paralysing businesses for now, nothing is moving, everybody is cashless, the petty traders don’t have account numbers.
“I am pleading to CBN to release the new naira notes to us traders, for use, queues are everywhere both in POS and Bank ATM. if this hardship continues, there will be more problems,” he warned.
The market boss lamented that sequel to the ugly situation, some traders do not open their shops as nobody patronizes them even as money transfers become mirage.
Pic shows the market chairman, Chief Ezeoha
