The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered banks to start collecting the old N500 and N1,000 notes from the public with immediate effect.
It, however, pegged the maximum amount the banks can collect at N500,000.
First bank of Nigeria plc in a release on Friday said, “Dear Valued Customer, this is to inform you that our branches shall receive old notes up to a maximum of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) after registration on the CBN portal.
Please note that deposits of more than N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) should be taken to the nearest CBN location.
In addition, our branches will be open tomorrow, Saturday 18 February 2023 to recieve old notes”, it concluded.
However, the CBN maintained that the old currencies were no more legal tender.
A source from the bank said the CBN ordered the banks to collect the monies instead of going to the CBN office following difficulties encountered in getting access to the bank.
A CBN official said, “Go to your bank but fill out the form before you 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.”
Earlier, the CBN opened a portal on its website and made it mandatory for those willing to return old notes to fill and generate a code.
On Thursday, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, ordered the banks to make the old N200 notes available to Nigerians.
This was after the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), said the old N200 note would 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.
