•What No One Will Tell You
We are in the Holy month of Ramadan. And Muslims all over the world are fasting, despite all the economic challenges they have faced in recent times. This year’s Ramadan will go down in the annals of history in Nigeria as one Ramadan that was observed under the most stressful conditions ever. Aside from the harsh economic realities staring the country in the face over the years, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele’s badly implemented Naira redesign policy which led to scarcity of Cash all over the country, put a lot of pressure on Muslims. Most of the average income earners felt it more because they have to seek for money to make the necessary daily provision for their families.
As it is Obligatory, during Ramadan, Muslims spend have to stock up on fruits, foodstuff and water which they will use to break their fast on a daily basis. Their buying habits double, if not triple of what they spend in other months of the year. Many of them host communal meals, night after night (Iftar), hosting Ramadan programmes such as lectures and I’tikaf seclusion, giving out gifts and donating to charities. Majority of the expenses spent in the Holy month of Ramadan are usually in Cash. Please take note that most of the afore-mentioned activities during Ramadan are done on a daily basis.
The price of food items has always remained on the rise, nationwide, long before Ramadan. Most people lament how lack of funds and their inability to access it has affected them. They are finding it hard to procure food items and other necessary things. Traders at the other end who usually smile to the bank during Ramadan are now seriously complaining of low patronage.
Recall that even before Ramadan began, the country had been in economic hardship with paucity of cash which rendered the people helpless. Even commercial banks around are unable to help out. They are short of cash hence, leaving their customers helpless and at the mercy of POS operators who charge them unreasonable amounts to give out cash.
At some points, many of the POS operators were totally out of cash and this affected the day to day life activities of many Nigerians. They could hardly get money to run the daily needs and routines. Parents could not send their wards to school as there is no cash to cater for feeding and transportation to school. Workers became handicap as they could no longer raise money to get to their workplace. Everybody is now stranded, while hunger became the order of the day.
The only viable window provided by most banks is the use of mobile and internet platforms. But this was also not working out well. The rush the platforms are witnessing collapses the system of most banks. Customers now cry foul as their money gets hanged due to failure in networks or their mobile Apps.
The hardship has persisted despite CBN’s order to banks to start distributing the old naira notes. Many people still encounter difficulties in assessing the banks for cash. Most ATMs are still not dispensing money.
Meanwhile, Islamic clerics across the country have learned their voice, joining the masses, in appealing to the Federal government to expedite action towards making funds available, so as to make life easier for the people, especially Muslims observing Ramadan. The Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah in Bauchi State a few days ago appealed to the FG to make naira notes available during the Ramadan. The Chairman, Tafsir Committee Kasuwan Shanu JIBWS mosque, Alhaji Hassan Gwani, made the appeal during the opening of this year’s annual Ramadan Tafsir. He said, “Ramadan is here again and the currency meant for daily purchases is not available,, thereby making the situation difficult for people to buy what they need”.
-Jamiu Abubakar
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