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Naira Scarcity: Broadcast journalist dies while trekking to office

AN Ibadan-based radio presenter popularly known as Baba Bintin has been reported to have slumped and died while trekking to work on Saturday, March 11.

Baba Bintin’s death was announced during a radio programme by the Fresh FM Nigeria on Saturday.

The ICIR gathered that the presenter died on his way to the Fresh FM station where he had a programme with Komolafe Olaiya and Olalomi Amole at Ayefele Music House, Challenge, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

A radio presenter at the station, Mayor Isaac Brown, revealed that the late presenter died while trekking from Amuloko to Challenge on Saturday morning with the hope of getting a point-of-sale (POS) agent to get cash.

“I’m finding it very difficult to believe this story that is breaking here,” Brown said on the radio station.

He added, “He (Baba Bintin) left his home like we all did this morning to come into this station to do our daily job and contribute our quota to national development, to the job like we love to do, and I’m being told that the man just slumped this morning and he died while getting ready to come here.”

Until his death, Baba Bintin was a comic presenter on the Oyin Ado programme on Saturdays on the radio station where he usually released information on market opening days in the state and across the country.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced the new N200, N500 and N1000 notes into circulation on December 15, 2022, and announced that the old notes would cease to be legal tender from January 31, 2023.

The apex bank extended the deadline till February 10 following the pleas and protest of Nigerians.




     

     

    The ICIR reported that despite the deadline extension, the currency swap has caused multi-dimensional harm to businesses, households and individuals.

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    Meanwhile, on Friday, March 3, the Supreme Court nullified the Federal Government’s naira redesign policy, saying that the old N100, N500 and N200 notes would remain valid till December 31.

    However, since the court ruling, there has been apprehension across the country as residents await either President Muhammadu Buhari or the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to react to the judgment.

    The ICIR has done a series of reports (which can be read here) on how the lingering Naira scarcity is affecting Nigerians.

    Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M

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