Rural dwellers, who constitute the larger percentage of Ogun residents, are crying out as hardship bites harder owing to the cash crunch.
Saga Gist reports that in Ogun State, only a few cities and towns could boast of commercial banks.
The capital of Ogun, Abeokuta is also with very few banks, all located almost at the centre of the metropolis like Oke-Ilewo, Panseke, Omida, Sapon, Asero and Lafenwa.
Checks by our correspondent confirmed that in some local governments in Ogun State, there are not more than two commercial banks.
In such places, residents are largely unbanked and the minority of them rely heavily on Point of Sale (POS) agents.
When the Central Bank of Nigeria asked the masses to deposit their old N200, N500 and N1000 notes for the redesigned ones, rural dwellers who are farmers and traders became apprehensive as they have no bank accounts.
To avoid a forfeiture of their hard-earned money, many rural dwellers called on their children or relatives, who asked them to pay the money into their bank accounts through the POS agents in their local communities.
Some said they travelled miles to deposit the money, with the hope that they would be given the new notes whenever they needed the money.
However, the rural dwellers have since been left in the cold with the failure of the banks to make the new notes available to the masses.
In urban areas, people still enjoy a little chance of succour with the availability of stores, food vendors and traders who accept bank transfers when there is no cash.
But in the rural communities, the people said they were dying of hunger.
A trader in Ipokia, Ipokia Local Government of Ogun, Mrs Deborah Adeyemi, recounted how she deposited all her money in her son’s account since December 2022.
“When they said we should save our money in the bank, I sent all my capital to my son because I do not have an account.
“Since December, I’ve not been doing anything. My capital is there in the bank, we cannot withdraw it. Feeding has become a problem. I have my grandchildren here with me, no money to feed them. When will all these problems stop? Please help us talk to President Muhammadu Buhari and Godwin Emefiele to obey what they said the court told them. The people are dying of hunger,” she said.
The woman’s husband, a retiree in his 90s, complained of how he has not been able to visit the hospital for routine checkups in the past two months, due to lack of cash.
“I have money in my account, but I can’t spend it. I have been unable to go to the hospital for my regular checkup because the hospital is asking for cash. Those of us in the rural areas are dying in silence. In fact, some people have not seen the new notes. Why is the government punishing us?” he asked.
It was gathered that most traders no longer open shops due to lack of customers.
Adebola, a foodstuff dealer in Yewa South told our correspondent that most people were buying food items on credit due lack of cash.
“I stopped going to the shop because there was nothing to sell again. The debtors are not paying. We don’t know when this will end,” she said.
On her part, Ms Mercy Wonderful, a resident of Odeda, did a comparison between the hardship imposed by the cash crunch and the one experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown, saying the lockdown was not this terrible.
“We used to think the lockdown was tough, we never knew this government would make us witness something more terrible than the COVID-19 lockdown. This suffering is too much, Buhari should do something about it,” she pleaded.
Meanwhile, commercial banks and the entire nation are anxiously waiting for President Buhari and the CBN to lift the ban on the old naira notes in obedience to the order of the Supreme Court.
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