The shortage of banknotes, which had crippled Nigeria since the start of the year, eased on Wednesday after the Central Bank released old notes into circulation and a strike was threatened by a major union.
Since Monday, the gigantic queues in front of ATMs in the big cities of Africa’s most populous country have been gradually disappearing, as customers have access to cash.
The Nigerian National Union (NLC) had threatened to strike on Wednesday to protest against the shortage before announcing on Tuesday to postpone its action for two weeks to follow the evolution of the situation.
So far the banks are complying with the rules but the NLC doubts compliance will last, union president Joe Ajaero told reporters. We felt we had to watch this take over the next two weeks, he said.
Nigeria has been plagued by a shortage of notes denominated in the local currency, the naira, since the Central Bank began changing old notes for new ones in January.
A decision taken by the authorities to encourage electronic payments in a country where many Nigerians work in the informal sector of the economy and use cash for their daily transactions.
According to the Central Bank, this policy was also aimed at fighting corruption and discouraging the payment of ransoms to bandits and kidnappers who terrorize the country.
The shortage of tickets has caused anguish and anger, as well as many riots in Nigeria, making themselves felt badly just before the presidential election on February 25th.
Ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu won the race and is due to succeed incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in May, although the opposition is contesting the results in court, alleging massive fraud.
During the election campaign, many slept in front of banks hoping in vain to obtain cash.
Some states have taken the federal government to court to force it to reconsider its decision.
After several months of suffering for the population, the court ordered that the old notes of 200, 500 and 1,000 naira be authorized to circulate with the new ones until the end of the year.