Seun Adeuyi, Iniabasi Umo (Uyo) & Maryam Ahmadu-Suka (Kaduna)
Following the cash crisis occasioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s naira redesign policy, many Nigerians have been relying on cash transfers using their banks’ applications or Point of Sale (PoS) devices to make transactions.
However, many of the business dealers, drivers, supermarkets, traders and other service providers are busy ripping off people by imposing extra charges on such transactions done without cash at hand, Daily Trust Saturday reports.
When our correspondents moved around some motor parks, supermarkets and restaurants, many of the business owners were observed cashing in on the non-availability of cash to rip off their customers.
Joy Agnes told our correspondent that she was charged extra when she bought hair spray at a beauty store in Maitama Ultra-Modern Market Kubwa, Abuja.
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She said: “Due to the unavailability of cash, I went to the store with my ATM card because they have a POS device. The hair spray cost N2, 000 but because I used my card, I was charged N200 extra. It’s not funny. Imagine how many people patronise the shop daily. Government should please make cash available.”
On her part, Kehinde Olayemi said she needed to pick up an item sent to her at the Nyanya Motor Park but had no cash.
Narrating her ordeal, she said: “My sister sent a package to me from Jos to Nyanya Motor Park and I needed to go from Kubwa to pick it up. I was cashless but had money in my account. I 
managed to find my way to the NNPC Junction (Kubwa).
“Ordinarily, from Kubwa to Nyanya is N500, but I was made to cough out N800 because the driver insisted I pay that amount. Others that had cash paid N500.”
Nsikak Epenyong, an engineer, said the fare for travelling to Akwa Ibom from one of the parks in the Utako area of Abuja has increased considerably.
“From Peace Park Utako to Akwa Ibom before was N11,000 via non-air-conditioned bus and N13,000 with an air-conditioned bus but now, it is N16,500 and N18,500 respectively. This is because payment is done through transfer or with their PoS devices. Calculate the differences and see. It’s too much,” Epenyong said.
Narrating how he was ripped off at an eatery in Lugbe FHA, Adamu Mohammed said: “Normally, the eatery’s meal cost N2,000 per plate but I was made to pay N2,500 via transfer to the account number provided. In fact, I was debited twice for that particular transaction. The first one didn’t go through. The money is yet to be reversed despite numerous messages to the bank.”
Speaking to our correspondent in Uyo on the development, Mrs Lovina Anthony said, “Most businesses and fuel stations along Ikot Ekpene Road in Uyo charge extra on their POS.
She said such charges are within the range of N50, N100 or N200 depending on the nature of transactions.
“But it’s not all of them that charge. It depends on the place,” she said.
Another Uyo resident, Ekemini Nelson, however disclosed that she bought food items and provisions worth N8,000 from a shop that accepted PoS transactions without extra charge, adding that the shop she initially wanted to buy from insisted on charging her for the POS transactions which she declined.
A food vendor at the Town Campus of the University of Uyo cafeteria, Esther Ekpo, said she now transacts business with her customers through transfer, saying she does not charge extra for POS transactions.
In Kaduna, a resident of Sabon Tash who gave her name as Juliet Sunday said she was forced to part with N2, 000 charges when she wanted to collect N10, 000 cash from a Point of Sales (PoS) operator in her area.
According to her, “I wanted to get the small cash I had in my bank account to sustain me for a few days, unfortunately, when I got to the PoS operator who was taking advantage of the scarcity of naira notes, he told me that he would take out N10,000 from my account and give me N8,000.
“I was shocked at how inhuman we have become because the man was unwilling to change his mind and all he said was that it was my choice, if I wanted cash that was the charge. I had no option but to unwillingly part with that N2,000.”
Another resident of Kawo, Kaduna North, who fell victim of the naira redesign, Ibrahim Murtala said because cash is not availability, people are ripping off their customers saying, “I went to buy some provision and after my purchase of about N5,000, the owner of the shop demanded that I include N1,000 charges for the use of transfer to his account.”
“I was truly shocked because this is someone I have known and bought things from for many years. However, I was forced to oblige because I needed the food items I purchased for my family.
He called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, find a fast solution to the cash crunch which is currently causing hardship to many Nigerians.
