The crisis in the polity over the naira redesign and naira swap policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been further worsened by conflicting directives sent out by the apex bank.
This confusion has led to the CBN and commercial banks in Nigeria issuing different directives to Nigerians over deposits of old N500 and N1,000 notes.
On the CBN website, tracked by WITHIN NIGERIA, the CBN had written that Nigerians should generate a reference code, print it out and “proceed to your selected bank branch to deposit your old N1000, N500 and N200 notes into your bank account.”
Hours later, the CBN’s corporate communications director, Osita Nwansiobi, released a statement on Twitter on Friday evening, stating that the Central bank has not ordered DMBs to accept old N500 and N1000 deposits.
PRESS RELEASE pic.twitter.com/AXkUlDGjx7
— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) February 17, 2023
However, United Bank for Africa (UBA) sent an email to its account users on Friday, told them that old Notes can now be deposited across their branches within the country.
“We have not stopped collecting old N500 and N1000 notes.”
“Please note that the maximum deposit value is N500,000 per customer. Our branches continue to remain open for the cash deposits on Saturdays,” UBA added in an email.
Banks around the country have recently faced violent attacks from consumers over new naira notes.
Popular Nigerian banks closed some of their branches in some parts of the country against desperate customers seeking cash payment.