The new naira notes must be picked up by commercial banks for distribution, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), or they risk daily fines of N1 million. At the Ayegbaju International Market in Osogbo, the capital of Osun state, Adeleke Adelokun, a deputy director at the CBN, informed traders of the need to accept the new currency and return old ones to banks.
Banks were instructed by the CBN to stop handing out the new currency over the counter and to only offer them through automated teller machines (ATMs). It also threatened to punish commercial banks that disobeyed the order to load the new naira notes into their ATMs.
Adelokun said the apex bank had printed enough naira when he spoke with the traders, but observed that commercial banks were not collecting them. “CBN has printed enough new naira notes of N200, N500 and N1,000,” NAN quoted the CBN official.