NATION

Oyo police intensify surveillance over naira, fuel scarcity protest 

The police in Oyo State command says it is intensifying surveillance in the bid to prevent the protests that greeted the current naira and fuel scarcity from becoming violent.

TheCornet reports that some protesters had set bonfires and damaged facilities over the situation in different parts of Oyo state.

In a statement by Adewale Osifeso, the spokesperson for the command, the police urged angry citizens to main public peace “even amidst pockets of protest that have emanated at different parts of the metropolis over hike in fuel pump price & unavailability of cash for dispense at ATM machines and POS”.

The statement further warns the residents, especially the youths, “to avoid being used by agents of violence who want to capitalize on the situation to criminally enrich themselves especially as we navigate towards the 2023 General Elections as the Command.”

Osifeso avowed the police is “fully prepared to mobilize” against “criminal elements.”

This medium reports that protests flared across Ibadan metropolis in the Oyo capital, as some angry residents set off bonfires and damaged facilities.

Crowds are seen to have besieged banks and Automated Teller Machines in their efforts to cash non-available naira notes.

The redesigned currency and even old banknotes had become scarce, while

Point of Sale operators continue to charge exorbitant fees depending on the volume of cash being withdrawn.

The Central Bank of Nigeria claims some individuals are hoarding the naira, as it also instructs money deposit banks to start issuing the new notes to customers during withdrawal. They are equally ordered to ensure constant supply to ATMs

Rising from a meeting with the All Progressives Congress governors caucus, President Muhammadu Buhari asked to be given seven days to take a decision on the controversial monetary policy.

At the same time, queues are increasing at filling stations over insufficient supply of petrol amid inflated prices at the pumps.

 

 

 

 

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