‘Bank officials sell naira notes to us’ — PoS operators explain increase in charges

Published

1 year ago

February 4, 2023 12:27 pm

BodexNG

Point of sale (PoS) operators have claimed that bank officials sell cash (both old and new naira notes) to them.

In separate interviews with NAN in Abuja on Friday, some of the operators said they pay an exorbitant fee which depends on the amount withdrawn.

To make up for the extra expense, they explained that they had no choice but to increase the charges paid by customers.

They further appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to penalise banks involved in the act.

An operator along Nyanya-NNPC road, who preferred anonymity, said she paid the extra charge to keep her business going.

”I paid a very high amount to get this money that I am giving to customers. If you look around here, other operators did not open,” she said.

”The woman (bank official) that I collect money from even increased the money today because she said that cash is scarce and she kept it for me because I called her earlier to do so.

”I pay according to the amount I collect. Sometimes, I pay as high as N5,000 for N50,000 to N70,000 that I collect from her.

”I charge N500 for every N5,000 withdrawn and N1000 for every N10000 withdrawn for me to recover what I spent to collect the money.”

Also speaking, Nnedi Ikonye, a PoS operator along Lugbe, said she paid N3,000 for withdrawing N65,000 in a bank.

”I was asked to pay N3,000 for the N65,000 that I withdrew from a bank and that is because I know someone in that bank,” Ikonye explained.

“That is just a token compared to what my colleagues are paying. They pay more because they don’t know people in the bank.”

Alphonsus Idah, a PoS operator at Mararaba market, urged the CBN to impose sanctions against banks who persist in selling cash to their customers.

This, he explained, would stop the untold hardship faced by citizens.

Another PoS operator, who pleaded anonymity, alleged that bank officials usually withdraw money for their clients.

“In some banks, ATM will not work even though they are loaded with cash,” the operator said.

“During close of work, the bankers will turn the machine on and queue to withdraw from the machine.

“The annoying thing is that one banker can hold like 10 different ATM cards and will withdraw from all of them. This is frustrating.”

In a bid to address long queues at automated teller machines (ATMs), the CBN had directed banks to commence payment of redesigned notes over the counter, with a daily limit of N20,000.

JUST IN: NCAA grounds all Dana Air operations

Published

17 hours ago

April 24, 2024 1:44 pm

BodexNG

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the operations of Dana Air, TheCable understands.

The directive followed the incident involving a Dana Air plane at Lagos airport on April 23, which forced aviation authorities to divert flights from local to international airport.

The suspension was approved by Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation.

EFCC freezes over 300 accounts linked to illegal FX trading

Published

22 hours ago

April 24, 2024 8:11 am

BodexNG

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen over 300 accounts linked to illicit foreign exchange (FX) trading.

Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, Ola Olukoyede, EFCC’s chairman, said the agency secured a court order to freeze the accounts.

“We got an order to freeze those accounts imagine what would have happened if we didn’t seize those accounts,” he said.

“There are people in this country doing worse than Binance,” he said.

Olukoyede said over $15 billion passed through one of the platforms in the last year, which was not regulated by financial regulators.

The development comes a day after Kenya’s police service reportedly arrested Nadeem Anjarwalla, the Binance regional manager for Africa.

On March 22, Anjarwalla escaped from an Abuja guest house where he and Tigran Gambaryan, his colleague, had been kept by the federal government.

Anjarwalla was said to have escaped after guards led him to a nearby mosque for prayers during the Ramadan fast.

Anjarwalla and Gambaryan were charged with tax evasion and money laundering by the federal government. The duo were arrested and detained on February 28.

On February 27, 2024, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said $26 billion passed through Binance Nigeria from unidentified sources in one year.

Cardoso said the apex bank was collaborating with different agencies, including the EFCC, the police, and the office of the national security adviser (NSA) to tackle illicit financial flows in the country.

Business

Dangote refinery slashes diesel price to N940 per litre

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024 2:24 pm

BodexNG

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced another reduction in the prices of both diesel and aviation fuel to N940 and N980 per litre, respectively.

The development comes days after the refinery reduced diesel price to N1,000 per litre.

In a statement on Tuesday, the refinery said the price change of N940 is applicable to customers buying five million litres or more from the refinery, while those purchasing one million litres or more will pay N970.

According to the company, this marks the third major reduction in diesel price “in less than three weeks when the product sold at N1,700 to N1,200 and also a further reduction to N1,000 and now N940 for diesel and N980 for aviation fuel per litre”.

Speaking on the new development, Anthony Chiejina, head of communication, Dangote Group, said the new price is in tandem with the company’s commitment to alleviating the effect of economic hardship in Nigeria.

“I can confirm to you that Dangote Petroleum Refinery has entered a strategic partnership with MRS Oil and Gas stations, to ensure that consumers get to buy fuel at affordable price, in all their stations be it Lagos or Maiduguri,” he said.

“You can buy as low as 1 litre of diesel at N1,050 and aviation fuel at N980 at all major airports where MRS operates.”

He added that the partnership will be extended to other major oil marketers.

“The essence of this is to ensure that retail buyers do not buy at exorbitant prices,” he said.

“The Dangote Group is committed to ensuring that Nigerians have a better welfare and as such, we are happy to announce this new prices and hope that it would go a long way to cushion the effect of economic challenges in the country.”

Reacting to the latest development, Ajayi Kadiri, director-general of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said the decision “to first crash the price from about N1,750/litre to N1,200/litre, N1,000/litre and now N940 is an eloquent demonstration of the capacity of local industries to positively impact the fortunes of the national economy”.

“The trickledown effect of this singular intervention promises to change the dynamics in the energy cost equation of the country, in the midst of inadequate and rising cost of electricity,” Kadiri said.

He said the reduction will ease the high inflation rate in the country, and have far-reaching impact on critical sectors like industrial operations, transportation, logistics, and agriculture.

Kadiri added that companies will be back in operation due to the price reduction.

Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others