By Olaitan Oye- Adeitan
Nigerians appear to be biting more than they can chew now with the myriad of challenges daily being encountered.
Is it the lingering fuel crisis or the difficulty in accessing the new naira notes or collection of PVC?
Many people never envisaged that the fuel crisis which resurfaced in November, last year would spill over till the New Year, 2023.
The thought of many was that the problem would have been addressed before Christmas but lo and behold, events proved the contrary.
The picture became more glaring since the wake of the New Year when long queues, some abnormally long, resurfaced at filling stations, and to cap it all, with an astronomical hike in the fuel pump price.
As at December 2022, motorists bought fuel between the range of 200 and 220 naira, but in January 2023, the price spiked to between 350 and 400 naira per litre.
Citizens are baffled that, even the hike in the fuel price could not rid the filling stations of the excessively long queues and chaotic scenes, amidst frustrations and angst.
And when temper boils over, anger is most times let loose among motorists as they all struggle for the commodity, leading to fisticuffs.
So what could be wrong? The situation has become a repeated decimal, so long too long.
It is in the midst of this that the new naira note palava surfaced.
The Central Bank of Nigeria had announced last year that the new naira notes would be released into circulation in December 15, 2023, while emphasizing that the old notes would cease to be legal tender by January 31st 2023.
However, the hopes of many Nigerians were dashed as the banks did not dispense the much-expected new naira notes.
Less than a week to the deadline, the Apex bank and the commercial banks began to trade blame.
While the CBN insisted the banks did not come for the new notes, some banks claimed it was the CBN that had not released the money.
As of today, 26th January, customers have been besieging banks in Ibadan, Oyo State, besides the throng queuing at ATM points under the scorching sun for the new naira notes.
And the machines have been dispensing them, a departure from weeks back when the machines were dispensing the old notes, or were practically empty, leaving customers baffled.
Operators of Point of Service, POS were also found to be attending to customers giving old currency. Some of them claimed the banks were yet to give them the new notes.
Aside these are also the electorate confronted with the challenge of collecting their permanent voter cards, though some had no struggle having theirs.
It is just one month to the general elections, any solution in sight?
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