The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday ordered commercial banks to start collecting the old N500 and N1,000 notes from the public with immediate effect.
The CBN said the maximum amount banks can collect is N500,000.
According to CBN, the old currencies are no more legal tender.
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According to a bank source, the CBN instructed the banks to collect the funds instead of bringing them to the CBN headquarters due to access issues.
A CBN official said, “Go to your bank but fill the form before you go. Go with your reference code you generate. With your code, banks will collect it from you. But if it is more than 500,000, you will go to the CBN and deposit it.”
The CBN earlier opened a portal on its website and required anyone wishing to return old notes to fill and generate a code.
Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, on Thursday instructed the banks to make the old N200 notes available to Nigerians.
This was after President Muhammadu Buhari said the old N200 note will be legal tender till April 10, 2023, while urging Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the CBN.
However, protests which had been rocking different states over the scarcity of the new Naira notes, made the CBN order banks to collect higher denominations after meeting with banks’ leaders.