By Maria Famakinwa
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Most Nigerians will never forget in a hurry the pains and challenges brought upon them by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s new naira redesign policy. Even though the scarcity of old and new naira notes persist across the country despite the recent order from the CBN that both notes should be accepted as legal tender, Nigerians are still struggling to cope with the unbearable situation and consoling themselves that the worse is over.
Though, every resident in Nigeria has a sad tale to tell about difficulty they encountered while trying to get cash but those who are worse hit are the innocent Nigerians who paid with their lives. They died struggling to get the money they deposited in banks. Their families who are still grieving over their shocking deaths described it as avoidable had the new naira policy had been handled professionally.
Below are some Nigerians who paid the ultimate price due to ill-timed naira policy of the CBN.
The family of a pregnant woman in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru LGA who was due for delivery but died last month because her husband’s efforts to withdraw money from the bank failed was one of the many cases of innocent Nigerians who lost their lives due to government insensitivity.
Narrating the ordeal, James Auta, said that he went with his wife to the hospital on Monday where the doctor asked him to deposit money before he could examine her. “I ran to my bank to withdraw money, but was told there was no money. I went back looking for POS operators, but I could not find any because, since the issue of new currency began, most POS operators locked up their business centre.”
As he could not have access to his money, the couple decided to go back home, trusting God for safe delivery. Unfortunately, the situation took a turn for the worse. “ My wife began labour around 11 pm. Since I could not withdraw any money, I called the attention of a nurse within our locality. But as my wife delivered, blood was coming out non-stop. All efforts by the nurse to stop the bleeding failed, she eventually died ” he recalled.
Also in February, a Grade Level 13 officer with the Lagos State University(LASU) Ojo, Mr Ademola Adesola, reportedly slumped and died while queuing in a bank within the university to withdraw N5,000 new notes as officially pegged by the bank for an individual account holder.
According to the Head of the Publicity and Public Relations Unit of the university, Mr Jeariogbe Olaniyi, the late Adesola drove himself to the school that morning. Around 11.30 am, he left the office for the bank to collect money from his account. While waiting on the queue, he slumped and died in the process. He said the deceased spent only about 30 minutes or thereabouts on the queue when he suddenly collapsed and could not be revived.
Another unidentified man was reported to have died while on queue inside a bank in Agbor, Ika south LGA of Delta state.
The bank customer was said to have slumped and died last month. There were claims that the man was on a queue to withdraw the new naira notes from the bank.
In a statement issued by Bright Edafe, police spokesperson in Delta State regarding the case, the man slumped and died while waiting to get an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card.
Another avoidable death of newly wedded couple who died in an accident on their way to the bank to withdraw money on March 8 in Kaduna was another sad one.
Unfortunately, Joshua Emmanuel and his pregnant wife Mercy, were said to be expecting their first child. They were 38 years old.
There was another devastating news of a broadcast journalist with Fresh FM Ibadan, Baba Bintin, who was reported to have slumped and died while trekking to work on Saturday, March 11, 2023.
A radio presenter at the station, Mayor Isaac Brown, revealed that the late presenter died while trekking from Amuloko to Challenge on Saturday morning with the hope of getting a point-of-sales (POS) agent to get cash.
Mr Femi Aina, the father of a National Youth Service Corps member, Oreoluwa, who was one of those who died in the Lagos train crash also blamed his daughter’s death on the lingering naira scarcity.
Mr Aina said that his daughter did not usually board the staff bus every day, but did not have enough cash on her on that fateful day.
