Nigerians at borders turn to CFA Francs as Scarcity of Naira Bites

Due to the severe naira shortage, Nigerians in border villages now conduct monetary transactions in CFA Franc, a currency popular in and used by Francophone nations in West Africa and Central Africa.

Farmers and businessmen reportedly adopted the currency temporarily to ease the hardship brought on by the lack of new naira notes in the border regions of Mfum, Gurin, and Illella in the states of Cross River, Taraba, and Sokoto.

Trading in CFA, according to the traders, is nothing new, but the limited availability of Nigeria’s legal cash has increased the amount of CFA commerce in the local communities.

Farmers and traders in the areas claimed they would change their assets back to naira when it became accessible but are now retaining them in CFA.

Many of the traders claim they are shut out of Nigeria’s financial system. A resident of one of the border communities claimed that due to the locations of the local banks, converting old naira notes to new ones is time-consuming.

In spite of assertions to the contrary, the Central Bank of Nigeria maintains that it has activated and deployed 300,000 super agents throughout the nation in order to recruit financially excluded Nigerians through the Naira Swap Program.

Other traders in Gurin, Adamawa, claimed that the market would continue to operate whether or not the supply of new naira notes improved.

The traders claimed that because the CFA is more freely accessible than the naira, they have seen an increase in business.

Although the naira is still accepted, it must be in the new notes, he pointed out that dealers have boosted transactions in CFA franc because it is widely available.