The Central Bank of Nigeria -CBN has begun the disbursement of old naira notes to Deposit Money Banks -DMBs as government authorities stepped up efforts to end the biting currency scarcity that has reportedly inflicted pain on millions of bank customers nationwide.
Recall that the central bank had directed DMBs to pick old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes at its offices across the country for onward disbursements to customers, following a meeting between the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and bank chief executive officers on Wednesday.
Multiple bank sources including CEOs and top executives confirmed to newsmen that the apex bank released old notes to banks. Also, a general manager at a tier-2 bank told newsmen that the lender got some old notes from the central bank on Thursday.
However, top bank officials said it would take about two weeks for the situation to normalize, adding that bank queues might not disappear until later next week. They also hope to pay N500,000 per customer by next week.