The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered banks to start collecting the old N500 and N1,000 notes from the public with immediate effect.
However, it set a cap of N500,000 on the amount the banks could take in.
The CBN insisted that the previous currencies were no longer accepted as legal money.
According to a bank source, the CBN instructed the banks to collect the funds instead of bringing them to the CBN office because it was impossible to gain entry 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.”
Prior to this, the CBN launched a portal on its website and required all individuals wishing to return old notes to fill out the form and generate a code.
The previous N200 notes must now be available to Nigerians, according to a Thursday instruction from CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele.
In addition to urging Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and N1000 notes with the CBN, President Muhammadu Buhari stated that the old N200 note would be legal payment until April 10, 2023.
However, the CBN ordered banks to collect higher denominations after meeting with bank executives in response to protests that had been roiling various states over the lack of the new naira notes.