Hawkers hijack, sell new naira notes at exorbitant prices

The redesigned Naira notes have been seen illegally sold by hawkers at Dadi Motor Park, Sabon Gari-Zaria, Kaduna state, at exorbitant prices.

This is a result of the scarcity of new Naira notes across the country.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), a bundle of N200 notes was going for N30,000; N500 notes are being sold at N70,000 and N1,000 notes are selling at N130,000, while N100 is sold at N16,000.

Mr. Mohammed Bello, a new cash hawker, said they paid between N70,000 to N130,000 to obtain new N500 notes, depending on the denominations of the notes.

However, Bello declined to disclose the sources of the money and encumbrances.

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Mr Thomas Damina, a resident of Gozaki village in Kafur Local Government Area of Katsina State, who patronised the mints vendors, confirmed to NAN that he bought the new N20,000 of N1000 notes at N25,000.

He said he was forced to purchase the money at the exorbitant price to enable him settle the labourers working at his dry season farm.

“Traders in my community (Gozaki) are rejecting the old notes and the money is not available at the banks. I have no option than to buy from cash hawkers,” Damina said.

NAN also observed that trading in the new Naira notes was receiving patronage as customers thronged the banks, rushing to beat the Jan. 31 deadline.

Most ATMs of some commercial banks at PZ, the commercial hub of the ancient Zaria city, were not dispensing cash when NAN visited.