Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday began the disbursement of old naira notes to deposit money banks as government authorities stepped up efforts to end the biting currency scarcity.
The Central Bank had directed deposit money banks 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.
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.
Meanwhile, the CBN has concluded plans to dispatch a team of officials to monitor compliance on the part of banks in Lagos, Abuja and other cities with a view to enforcing proper disbursement of the old notes collected from the CBN.
