Nigeria Switches Diaspora Remittances to Naira-Only Settlement

Under a Central Bank of Nigeria directive effective May 1, international money-transfer operators, Western Union, MoneyGram, WorldRemit and others, must route all remittance inflows and beneficiary payments through dedicated naira settlement accounts at Nigerian banks. The practical effect: beneficiaries receive naira, not US dollars in cash or domiciliary accounts.

Why it matters: this is the single most consequential change for the Nigerian diaspora’s senders this year. The CBN is steering flows onto formal rails, and says monthly inflows have tripled to about US$600 million, targeting US$1 billion a month by year-end, with the official-versus-parallel FX gap now near 2%.

The opportunity is a more stable, more transparent corridor. The risk for recipients is conversion timing and rate: naira-at-settlement means the exchange rate is fixed by the operator and bank, so the spread is where value is gained or lost.

Practical read: senders should compare operators on the naira rate they apply, not just the headline fee. See Money & Movement for corridor pricing and the Nigeria hub.

Source: Central Bank of Nigeria circular; Business Post Nigeria; Zawya.