Following attacks on some banks in parts of the country by angry Nigerians, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has ordered banks to immediately begin to collect the old N500 and N1,000 notes from members of public.
The Apex bank in the fresh directive further insisted that the old currencies are no longer legal tender, and also pegged the maximum deposit the banks can collect from an individual as N500,000.
The CBN had earlier opened a portal on its website and made it mandatory for those willing to return old notes to fill and generate a code.
Similarly, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had on Thursday, ordered the banks to make the old N200 notes available to Nigerians.
This came just as President Muhammadu Buhari said only the old N200 note would be legal tender till April 10, 2023.
Buhari had also told Nigerians that they can still deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the CBN.
However, in line with this fresh order, the apex bank expects Nigerians to go to their banks to deposit the notes, after they must have filled out the form on its portal.
According to a CBN official, “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.”
Meanwhile, protests are ongoing in some parts of the country, owing to the scarcity of the new Naira notes and fuel in the country.