Can You Send Dollars to Nigeria? The CBN Naira Rule Explained

Last checked 10 October 2026

Not through a money transfer service. Under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s guidelines for money transfer operators, every transfer they bring into Nigeria is paid to the recipient in naira. Remitly, WorldRemit, Ria, Taptap Send and Wise all show naira for Nigeria on their own pages, and that includes payouts into OPay, PalmPay, Kuda and Moniepoint. Western Union’s page is the odd one out, and we explain why below. If your family needs to hold dollars, the account for that is a domiciliary account at a bank, and money reaches it a different way.

What the CBN rule says

The rule is in the CBN’s Reviewed Guidelines of International Money Transfer Services in Nigeria, dated 31 January 2024. Section 4.2.1 reads:

“All in-bound money transfers to Nigeria shall be paid to beneficiaries in Naira through a bank account, or cash. Proceeds of IMTO more than the equivalent of $200 shall be paid through an account. Cash payments shall be made upon the provision of a satisfactory/an acceptable means of identification.”

The same section says the exchange rate “shall be at the prevailing rate in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market”. Section 4.3 repeats the point: an operator must “make payment to customers only in Nigerian currency”.

On 24 March 2026 the CBN followed up with a circular, “Measures to Further Deepen Diaspora Remittances and Compliance”, which took effect on 1 May 2026. According to a summary by the Lagos law firm Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, it makes operators route every payout through naira settlement accounts at Nigerian banks, and directs them to use real-time prices from Bloomberg’s BMatch platform as guidance when pricing. Nigerian news reports described it as an end to dollar payouts from 1 May. The naira-only payout itself was already in the 2024 guidelines.

What the providers’ own pages say

Read on 10 October 2026, on each provider’s pages for senders in Germany where one exists:

Provider	What its page shows for Nigeria
Remitly	“They receive NGN”. Its page for Access Bank lists the supported currency as NGN.
Ria	Its destination list shows Nigeria with NGN only. Countries such as Egypt show a US dollar option too.
WorldRemit	“WorldRemit now offers transfers in NGN to selected Nigerian naira accounts” (its German page, our translation).
Taptap Send	“Following a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria, money transfer operators discontinued cash pickup and transfers to domiciliary USD accounts in Nigeria.”
Wise	“You can send NGN to personal and business bank accounts in Nigeria.”
Western Union	Quotes the amount in naira, but its bank-account footnotes still say the receiver gets the money “in their USD currency-supported account”.

Western Union’s page contradicts itself. With “Bank account” selected, the quote for €500 was ₦743,558.48, and footnote 1 mentions real-time transfers to “Guaranty Trust Bank and First Bank of Nigeria USD accounts”. We saw the same “USD currency-supported account” note on 29 September. Under the CBN rule above the payout should be naira, which matches the quote. If you use Western Union for a bank payout, ask it which currency the account will be credited in before you pay.

OPay, PalmPay, Kuda and Moniepoint

These are the accounts many recipients use, and the rule applies to them in the same way. A remittance into any of them arrives in naira, whatever currency you paid in. Paying in dollars does not deliver dollars. We explain this for Moniepoint in can Moniepoint receive money from abroad, and which services pay into each of the four in which money transfer services pay into OPay, PalmPay, Kuda and Moniepoint.

Where dollars can still go: a domiciliary account

A domiciliary account is a foreign-currency account at a Nigerian bank. GTBank’s page is a typical example. Its account is “available in US Dollar, Pounds or Euro”, can be funded “via cash inflows and deposits”, allows foreign-currency cash withdrawals at any GTBank branch, and can “transfer funds in foreign currency to other bank’s domiciliary accounts in Nigeria and abroad”. To open one, GTBank asks for an account opening form, an ID document, a passport photograph, two completed reference forms and a utility bill issued within the last three months.

The CBN guidelines quoted above are about money transfer operators. They do not cover a dollar transfer from one bank to another, and we did not find a CBN document we could read that sets out the rules for incoming wires to domiciliary accounts. So if holding dollars is the goal, check with both banks before relying on it:

Ask the recipient’s bank, in writing, whether the account accepts an incoming international transfer in US dollars, which SWIFT details to use, and what it charges.
Ask your own bank whether it sends US dollar transfers to Nigeria, and what it charges.
Expect deductions on the way. International bank transfers can arrive short when banks in the middle take a fee. We explain why in why did I receive less money than was sent, and how to trace a wire in how to track an international bank transfer.

Cash pickup and the $200 line

Under the same section of the CBN guidelines, anything above the equivalent of $200 must be paid into an account, and cash needs an acceptable ID. Providers apply this differently. Taptap Send says operators discontinued cash pickup in February 2024. Remitly’s Access Bank page still lists cash pickup. Western Union’s German page offers cash, but says it pays only receivers who have a bank account, or who bring a “referee” who has one, and that this “is required by the Central Bank of Nigeria”. If your recipient has no bank account, see bank deposit, cash pickup or mobile wallet before you choose.

Which naira rate will they get?

The guidelines require the “prevailing rate in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market”, and the 2026 circular points operators to market prices. That does not make every provider’s rate the same. On 29 September the best and worst quotes we could rank for €500 into a Nigerian bank account were ₦6,005 apart, about €4: see Germany to Nigeria, providers compared.

One more rule from the guidelines, section 4.2.2: an operator must not process a transfer “that appears to have been deliberately split into small amounts to avoid the reporting requirements”. Splitting a payment does not get round the naira rule either. We look at when splitting makes sense for other reasons in one large transfer or several smaller ones.

Questions people ask

Can I send dollars to a Nigerian domiciliary account with Remitly, WorldRemit or Western Union?

Not as dollars. The CBN guidelines require money transfer operators to pay in naira, and Remitly, WorldRemit, Ria and Wise all show naira for Nigeria. Taptap Send says operators stopped paying into domiciliary US dollar accounts. Western Union’s footnotes still mention USD accounts, but its quote is in naira, so ask it before you send.

Can Moniepoint, OPay, Kuda or PalmPay receive dollars?

A remittance into any of them arrives in naira. Sending dollars, euros or pounds changes what you pay in, not what arrives.

When did this change?

The CBN’s list of circulars shows the steps. In July 2023 a circular titled “Payout Option in Naira for Receipt of Proceeds of Diaspora Remittances” added naira as an option, alongside dollars. The guidelines of 31 January 2024 made naira the only payout. The March 2026 circular, in force from 1 May 2026, tightened how operators settle and price those payouts.

How we checked this

Read on 10 October 2026. The CBN’s 2024 guidelines, sections 4.2.1, 4.2.2 and 4.3, read in full on RegAlert, which republishes the text. The CBN’s own copy sits behind an automated bot check that we did not get past. The CBN’s list of circulars, for the titles, reference numbers and dates of the 2023, 2024 and 2026 documents. Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie’s regulatory update, for what the March 2026 circular requires: we could not open the circular itself, for the same reason. On the provider side: Remitly’s Nigeria and Access Bank pages, Ria’s Nigeria page and destination list, WorldRemit’s Nigeria page, Western Union’s calculator with “Bank account” and “Cash” selected (all for senders in Germany), Taptap Send’s Nigeria page, and Wise’s guide to NGN transfers. For domiciliary accounts, GTBank’s personal domiciliary account page.

We made no test transfers and did not ask any bank how it treats incoming dollar wires. This page describes the rules and the providers’ published pages. It is not legal or financial advice.

Sources

Afromium does not make test transfers and has no commercial relationship with any provider or bank on this page. The CBN rules are quoted from the texts named above, and the provider details from their own pages, on the date given. Rules and provider practice in Nigeria have changed several times since 2021, so check with your provider and the recipient’s bank before you rely on anything here.

Can Your Family in Nigeria Receive Dollars? What the CBN Rule Means