Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed commercial banks to collect old N500 and N1,000 notes from Nigerians all over the country, according to a report by Punch on Friday.
Recall that the CBN had ordered banks to stop the collection of old notes from Nigerians since February 13, 2023, an action that had sparked protests and violence across the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday allowed the old N200 notes to remain in circulation till April 10 in violation of the Supreme Court’s ruling which ordered that the old notes remained legal tender pending the determination of the suit before it.
But on Friday, the apex bank directed banks to begin the collection of the old N500 and N1,000 notes but insisted that they ceased being legal tender.
The CBN pegged the amount the banks could collect from individuals to be N500,000 while anything more than that should be paid at the apex bank.
Osita Nwanisobi, Director of the Corporate Communications Department, CBN confirmed the development.
He said, “it’s just for amounts N500,000 and below.”
A CBN source was also quoted as saying that people should go to their banks but that they had to fill out the form before they go.
“Go with the 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 source said.