Some traders in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have expressed delight over the availability of naira notes to citizens.

Many markets in Abuja, on Monday, returned to normal daily business activities as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected more naira notes into the commercial banks.

A meat seller, Audu Ali, said since the naira scarcity started, business had not been good, adding that most days, he had no meat to sell due to the development.

“We use cash to buy the cows from the sellers because most of them don’t believe in cash transfers or have no bank accounts.

“Many people coming to buy from us always do transfers, and this makes it difficult for us to buy from the sellers who usually demand cash before they sell to us,” Mr Ali said.

However, he said that patronage with cash had improved since Saturday, adding that it had become easier for everyone to transact with cash.

Ella Aminu, a civil servant, expressed happiness, as many people now had easy access to cash to do their respective businesses.

According to him, it is now easy for him to get cash from his bank to buy food items, unlike before.

“Lots of citizens had suffered during the period of cash scarcity, as many vendors preferred to do their businesses in cash.

“Again, Point of Sale (POS) operators in the market always charge interest per vendor. How much are the salaries of these buyers who are majorly civil servants?” he queried.

Usman Baba, a vegetable seller, said that he had only made little money since the beginning of the naira scarcity.

“Most of my vegetables perished, as I experienced low patronage from my customers, but with the recent development, everything is getting better,” he said.

CBN had, in October 2022, announced the redesigning of N200, N500 and N1000. 

(NAN)