In an effort to alleviate the severe currency shortage that has caused anguish to millions of bank clients nationwide, the Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday started distributing old naira notes to Deposit Money Banks.
Following a meeting between the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and bank chief executive officers on Wednesday, the central bank had instructed DMBs to collect old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes at its offices across the country for subsequent payments to consumers.
According to information obtained by news correspondents, commercial banks obtained old naira notes from CBN branches all over the nation.
News correspondents were informed by the general manager of a tier-2 bank that the lender received some old notes from the central bank on Thursday.
“The CBN has begun giving us outdated currency. The currency won’t start moving about right once, a top official of a mid-size bank told news correspondents.
The situation would take around two weeks to normalize, according to top bank executives, who also suggested that bank lines might not dissipate until later next week.
By the next week, they also plan to pay each consumer N500,000.
“The situation won’t return to normal right away. On Friday, the effects will start to be felt. Overall, between one and two weeks should pass before things return to normal, a top bank executive told The News correspondents, despite the fact that he was not authorized to do so.
The bank employees’ union added that things might not return to normal right away.
According to reports, the apex bank officers would keep an eye on banks in Lagos, Abuja, and other locations to ensure the correct distribution of the old notes obtained from the CBN.
The monitoring effort was in response to top bank officials allegedly being ordered to oversee the swift recirculation of the old naira notes.
