Breaking: CBN gives order to banks to collect old N500, N1,000 notes

The Central Bank of Nigeria, or CBN, has instructed Deposit Money Banks to retrieve old N500 and N1,000 notes from consumers that has used the reference code provided from its website.

ValidViewNetwork has gathered from various bank sources that the branches have been instructed by the head office to collect the old notes from their customers who have registered and produced reference codes from the CBN website.

A top CBN official confirmed the directive: “Yes we have directed them to collect the old N500 and N1,000 from customers, subject to maximum of N500,000.”

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari ordered that the old N500 and N1,000 notes were no longer valid means of payment and that anyone in possession of them should deliver them to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In order to facilitate the deposit of old N500 and N1,000 notes, the CBN developed a platform where users could register the amount they wished to deposit and receive a reference code to verify their registration.

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The old notes can be deposited using the reference code at any CBN location nationwide.

However, investigation revealed that the CBN might have allowed the banks to collect the old notes from their customers, following the huge number of people that besieged its offices to deposit the old N500 and N1,000.

A top bank official and branch head told Vanguard that the branch will collect old notes from customers tomorrow (Saturday) as the branch did not open to customers today due to fear of attack.