How CBN Distributed New Naira Notes To Deposit Money Banks

In the face of the continuous scarcity of new Naira notes being experienced by Nigerians, the Central Bank of Nigeria has distributed the new naira notes to deposit money banks across the country.

According to Western Post, the apex bank had in October last year, introduced the redesigned N200, N500 and N1000 notes, releasing it into circulation December 15 last year.

It then gave until January 31, 2023 for the phasing out of the old naira notes, asking Nigerians to deposit the old notes to their various banks after which it ceases to be a legal tender.

Nigerians however had difficulties accessing the new naira notes, forcing the CBN to shift the deadline to February 10.

This made the Governors of Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states to drag the Federal Government and the CBN before the Supreme Court, asking the apex court to stop the withdrawal of old naira notes from circulation after the February 10 deadline.

According to them, the biting hardship being experienced in the country would make the deadline not feasible.

These caused protests across the country, with protesters burning banks to express their frustration at the inability to access the new Naira notes.

The court initially gave an injunction, asking the CBN to halt the deadline, before eventually ruling that the naira swap policy was invalid, and that the old notes should remain in circulation until December 31, 2023.

A document making rounds in the social media space showed that none of the banks got up to N50bn of the new notes as of January 31.

According to the document, Access Bank got the highest amount of the new naira notes, getting N33.484bn, while Zenith Bank got N28.441bn and First Bank N27.107bn.

The distribution also showed that UBA, GTCO and FCMB got N25.502bn, N19.594bn and N16.01bn respectively, while Fidelity Bank, Ecobank and Union Bank got N15.958bn, N14.703bn and N14.125bn respectively.

A total of N11.83bn, N11.242bn and N10.074bn respectively were shared across the branches of Stanbic Bank, Sterling Bank and Polaris banks nationwide, while Wema Bank and Unity Bank also got N8.611bn and N8.586bn respectively.

Further information secured by our correspondent also showed that banks in Lagos got the highest share of the new naira note, with N33bn distributed across the nation’s economic capital, while Abuja was next with N27.894bn distributed.

Banks in Ibadan got N13.178bn, while banks in Kano and Jos got N8.12bn and N7.978bn respectively.

Maiduguri, Minna and Katsina banks also got N6.594bn, N6.558bn and N6.497bn respectively, while Bauchi, Abeokuta and Uyo banks got N6.241bn, N6.017bn and N5.849bn respectivey.

N5.816bn was shared to banks in Akure, while N5.585bn was shared to banks in Enugu.