By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has instructed commercial banks to immediately collect the old naira notes they deposited in its branches to ease the cash crunch across the country.
Recall that the apex bank had mopped up the old N1, 000, N500 and N200 notes in response to the introduction of new ones as part of the cashless policy of the federal government.
At the height of pressure from various stakeholders for the CBN to relax its stance on the cashless policy to ease the pains Nigerians are going through, CBN governor Godwin Emefiele had claimed that all the old notes withdrawn from circulation had been destroyed
And despite the Supreme Court judgement that directed the old and new notes be used together up till December 31, the money in circulation remained scanty as Nigerians struggled to live a normal life.
Daily Trust had reported that despite the announcement by the CBN to banks to issue and collect the old banknotes in response to the Supreme Court judgement and a statement from the presidency, credible sources said the financial institutions soon ran out of cash after they issued what remained in their vaults as there was no new flow from the apex bank.
Banks to get supply from today
But credible sources at the CBN told one of our correspondents last night that starting today, the commercial banks were free to withdraw the old notes they kept at the apex bank.
*Daily Trust*
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