The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday began the disbursement of old naira notes to Deposit Money Banks as government authorities stepped up efforts to end the biting currency scarcity that has inflicted pain on millions of bank customers nationwide.

The central bank had directed DMBs to pick old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes at its offices across the country for onward disbursements to customers, following a meeting between the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and bank chief executive officers on Wednesday.

Findings by our correspondents on Thursday revealed that commercial banks got old naira notes from CBN offices across the country.

Multiple bank sources including CEOs and top executives confirmed to The PUNCH that the apex bank released old notes to banks.

“I can confirm to you that we received old notes from the CBN today, we also received a memo from the central bank to this effect,” the CEO of a commercial bank

Also,  a general manager at a tier-2 bank told one of our correspondents that the lender got some old notes from the central bank on Thursday.

“The CBN has started giving us old notes. However, it will take some time for the currency to circulate,” a top official of a mid-size bank confirmed to one of our correspondents on Thursday.