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February 6, 2023
One of the traders explained to SaharaReporters why he chose to sell a bowl of rice for N1,200 rather than the market price of N1,700.
Some foodstuff sellers at Hajiya Halima Market, Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria have dropped the prices of their foodstuffs due to low patronage experienced in recent times over Naira scarcity.
SaharaReporters gathered that the traders, particularly rice sellers, decided to sell the staple at a low price to allow them to have access to cash so that they could meet the needs of their families.
One of the traders explained to SaharaReporters why he chose to sell a bowl of rice for N1,200 rather than the market price of N1,700.
He said, “We (traders) also need money to buy things that our family will eat. And since there is no money (cash), people have stopped coming to us as we don’t take transfer. We decided to drop the prices of our products to attract customers so that we can also have access to cash.”
SaharaReporters also saw a large number of people rushing the foodstuffs amid the scarcity of new Naira notes.
The CBN fixed February 10 as the new deadline for the exchange of old naira notes for the newly designed ones having initially fixed January 31 as the deadline.
Many Nigerians are currently unable to access to the new N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, resulting in scarcity and attendant suffering in the country.
In a related development, SaharaReporters had also reported how some residents of some communities and traders in the Illela Local Government Area of Sokoto State have abandoned the Nigerian currency – Naira – for CFA franc because of the shortage of new Naira notes which were not produced in adequate quantities.
Investigations showed that Illela, a border town with Niger Republic and about 105 kilometres from Sokoto, the capital of Sokoto State, now has most of its traders and residents trading in CFA franc.
A resident of Sabon-Gari, a town in Illela Local Government Area, identified as Yusuf Sani revealed to SaharaReporters that he had changed all his Naira notes to CFA franc because of the difficulty in getting Naira notes in the region.