Nigeria Currency and Money Guide
- Country Nigeria
- Guide Budget
- Reviewed 28 October 2026
- Sources 3
- Length 2 min read
Credit Sir Demo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Last reviewed 28 October 2026
This guide covers what is worth knowing about money in Nigeria, which is mostly about how it goes wrong.
Cards and scams
Credit card fraud is common. Keep your card within sight when you are paying a bill.
Scams operating from West Africa take many forms, including romance and friendship, business ventures, and offers of work or employment. Be cautious about requests for funds, job offers, business ventures and face to face meetings with anyone you have only met online.
The Central Bank of Nigeria is the issuing authority and the place to check an official rate.
Withdrawing cash
Areas around banks and ATMs have seen a spike in criminal activity, so take extra precautions when withdrawing cash, especially at night.
Do not carry large amounts of cash or wear expensive jewelry. Taken together with the point about ATMs, the practical shape is to draw money in daylight, at a bank rather than a street machine where you can, and to carry as little as the day needs.
The scam that is aimed at families abroad
These scams are aimed squarely at people with relatives in Nigeria, which is to say at many of our readers.
If you are emailed about a money transfer to Nigeria for someone you know, contact the person who is supposedly receiving the money. If a caller claims to be in distress, ask whether they have reported the incident to their embassy or high commission in Abuja or Lagos. And if you receive a suspicious email claiming to come from an embassy or high commission in Nigeria, contact that mission directly rather than replying.
The common thread is that the message arrives with a name you recognize attached to it. Verify through a channel the sender did not choose.
Fertility treatment, and a warning worth its own section
This sits in the money guide because the sums involved are large. It is also the most serious financial risk on this page.
If you are considering fertility treatment in Nigeria, take great care. There have been reports of a number of staged fake births, commonly called miracle babies, in which visitors are falsely led to believe that a birth has taken place. Regulation of the fertility sector, including surrogacy services, is reported to be weak.
Separately, adoption from Nigeria is restricted by some countries: the UK has applied special restrictions since March 2021. If you bring a child who is not biologically related to you into your home country without following its legal procedures, you could face prosecution, and the child may not be eligible for citizenship.
Anyone planning to bring a baby born through fertility treatment in Nigeria home should check their own country's rules on surrogacy overseas before anything else is arranged.
Practical care
- Keep your card in sight while it is being used.
- Withdraw cash in daylight, and take extra care around banks and ATMs.
- Do not carry large amounts of cash or wear expensive jewelry.
- Treat unsolicited business or romantic approaches involving money as a scam until proved otherwise.
- Verify any request for a money transfer through a channel the sender did not choose.
- Declare cash over 10,000 US dollars or the equivalent on arrival, and anything at customs that may be taxable or dutiable. The prohibited import list is in the visa guide.