Nigerian dancehall sensation, Timaya, has faced a barrage of criticism on social media after he complained about the lack of fuel for his car. The renowned artist took to his Twitter page on Tuesday, May 30, expressing his frustration.
Nigerians tackle Timaya as he laments over petrol scarcity. Photo Credit: @timayatimaya Source: Instagram He wrote; “No fuel for my moto 😤,” venting his disappointment over the unavailability of fuel. This complaint comes shortly after his performance at the pre-inauguration concert for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which had attracted substantial attention. However, fans quickly responded to Timaya’s tweet, admonishing the singer and referencing the rumored payment of N10 million to musicians who performed at the event. Reacting… One Twitter user, @Kingdou_05, wrote; “Use the 10m that was paid to buy some.” Another user, @Fx_high_priest, cheekily remarked; “As e dey sweet them e dey pain you 😹.” @iam_Puffbaby added; “It’s so cold 🥶 outside my bro” @jayr_peter commented; “No be you sing as e dey pain them, e dey sweet us” @nkaynnaji wrote; “Looks like all of us are in severe pain now😮💨” @fikky_ybnl added; “How you wan take charge your phone and enjoy A/C ?” @manlikedab commented; “Drag your motor go house with your dada.” @DanielSplendid_ added; “Use the 10mili wey you collect last weekend use fuel your motor‘ See below;
On Monday, February 20, Orji Uzor Kalu claimed that his family can no longer cook over the policy, while speaking on Channels TV. He said; “You can see the policy is right but I don’t keep money in my house. I am suffering. The other day, my house manager told my wife in Abuja that we have no money to cook food. My wife was virtually roaming around and we feed over 250 people every day. It is a problem to me and to everybody.” Reacting to President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive for the Central Bank of Nigeria to make 200 Naira notes circulate until the eve of the March 11 governorship election, Orji Uzor Kalu said; “This is why if I am in the position of the Mr President as I have told you before, I will listen to the Supreme Court judgement. The Supreme Court to me, whether they are right or wrong, Mr President should obey the law and ask his Attorney General to put a review to the Supreme Court.” 
There has been a shortage of the new naira notes introduced not too long ago. These shortages of the new naira notes have triggered the anger of most Nigeria as most hit the streets to protest. According to reports, most banks’ ATMs in the city have run out of cash and POS operators have shut down their businesses due to the pending naira scarcity. Angry Nigerians have hit the streets once again to register their displeasure over the scarcity of the new naira notes. The protestors have reportedly blocked roads with barricades and attacked the Union and the FCMB bank branches in Sagamu, Ogun state. 
The protests which later turned deadly took place on the morning of Wednesday, February 15. It was gathered that hundreds of residents dropped out in different parts of the city to stage protests as they lament the current hardship that they have been subjected to following the Naira redesign policy. The protest, however, turned bloody after security operatives reportedly opened fire on protesters, killing at least two on the spot. According to reports, one of the deceased protesters was shot at the central part of Ring Road, while the other was shot at the New Benin area of the state. 
“To bring immediate relief to our people, we urge the Central Bank to consider the following: 1. Following the advice of the Council of States, the CBN should announce that the old and new Naira notes (especially the non-withdrawn notes and coins) will co-exist as legal tender for the next 12 months to follow examples of countries that have successfully implemented similar monetary policy. This will immediately remove growing tension in the country, eliminate panic reactions by the populace and allow time to scale up infrastructural gaps around alternative payment options to cash. 2. We advise the immediate suspension of associated charges on online transactions and bank transfers and payments via POS until the current crisis is fully resolved. This cost should be considered a roll-out expense by the CBN to incentivise the envisaged shift to alternative transaction channels; for both the financial services consuming public and those in charge of implementing the scale-up programme. Headquarters of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 3. Mobilise all Money Deposit Banks, Payment platforms to show clear commitment and timelines on expanding their infrastructure and support services. 4. Bring in Fintech companies with capabilities into currency swap programme for the next 90 days to help decongest banking halls and ATM points where people line up for hours. 5. The Central Bank and other relevant MDA’s should form an Inter-Agency Action Committee for immediate oversight over the cash supply gaps from the Nigerian Security and Minting Company and deal with issues around capabilities and turn around time to meet the needs of the informal sector and unbanked people. 6. The CBN, National Orientation Agency and Ministry of Information, State and Local Governments with their relevant organs in both the public and private sectors should commence a major public enlightenment and sensitisation campaign to further educate and empower our people on the new naira and cashless policy for better understanding and mainstream adoption. “As leaders, our commitment to our country everyday must be on how to make life better for our people and we are called upon not to waste the opportunity the moment presents to us to ramp up capacity and capability to serve 200 million Nigerians, leaving no one behind and ultimately improve the living conditions of every single Nigerian. Our task now is to restore hope in the country by implementing these steps to energise our people that we can do big things for a better future and shared prosperity. We can build upon this citizen-focused policy challenge to offer a template on how governance should work for the people. “God bless you and God bless Nigeria. We are overcomers.”