According to the News Agency of Nigeria, people in Kaduna State have turned to gas stations in a desperate attempt to get money to meet their immediate win.
This incident follows the lack of readily available cash in the Automatic Teller Machines of the majority of the city’s banks, for the same reason that point-of-sale operators have shut their doors.
NAN inspections revealed that persons looking for cash flocked to gas stations dispensing fuel, looking for those who were paying for gas with cash rather than an electronic transfer.
The parties then came to an arrangement that stipulated individuals in need of money would pay the fuel price by electronic transfer from their accounts and get the money from the fuel buyer in return.
A number of people who had been experiencing extreme hardship, according to those questioned in one of the filling stations, found the arrangement to be a relief.
According to a resident, by name Adamu Saleh, “I got wind of this arrangement today and went to a petrol station dispensing fuel, talked to a commercial bus driver, and he accepted to help me.
“We agreed that I should pay N7,000, through the station’s PoS, being the cost of his fuel, which I did.
“When it was his turn to be dispensed of the fuel, I presented the N7,000 slip, and collected the cash from him in return; it was a big relief to me as I had no cash on me.
“The major challenge is that it is not everything that can be purchased through electronic transfer of money; there are some needs that can only be satisfied using liquid cash.”
Mrs. Aisha Fika, a separate resident, claimed she had to accost three different people at a gas station before she was able to obtain usable cash.
“I accosted two people who told me they had already been ‘booked’ by others, but a third person obliged,” she said.
Before learning about the gas station setup, Fika claimed that she had tried unsuccessfully to obtain cash through the ATMs or Point of Sale.
Aminu Lawan, a different resident, stated that the difficulties with this arrangement are the unpredictability of network service and the amount of time spent waiting for the turn of your helper to be supplied fuel.
“Sometimes, the network can disappoint, or the person to help you is far behind in the petrol queue; except you are patient you may end up getting frustrated”, he said.
