How to send money to Nigeria from the UK, and be sure it arrives

If you are going the other way, from a Nigerian bank or wallet to a UK account, this is not the page for you. The Nigerian-side rule and the routes are in how to send money from Nigeria to the UK. For moving naira out of Nigeria to any destination and picking the right rate, the two-rates page is the one.

What happens between the tap in London and the money in Lagos

When you tap send on a good app in London, three things happen in sequence, and each one can stop the transfer.

First the app on your side checks you. On a bigger send, the app can pause you for a manual review. This is the "compliance hold" people complain about. It is not personal and it is not arbitrary. Wise checks your identity with your photo ID and address. To avoid delays from this check, it says to get verified before you send. Wise also says that when you send a large amount, it may ask for more documents to check where the money came from. It says its extra checks on a transfer usually take 2 to 10 working days, and sometimes longer.

Second, the app moves the pounds into the naira market and buys the naira. This is where the real work of the app happens: getting you close to the average exchange rate the market quotes. Wise says it holds the rate on most transfers until a deadline it shows you. If your money reaches it after that, it uses the rate at that moment.

Third, the naira has to arrive in your family's account in Nigeria. The name on the account has to match the name you typed. The account has to be in good standing with the bank. And the account has to have the right identity numbers linked to it: its Bank Verification Number, its National Identification Number, or both. If any of that is off, the recipient's bank can reject the transfer and the money comes back.

Which app to open, and for which job

The right app on this route depends on the job.

To a Nigerian bank account, £50 to £500

Start with Wise. Wise uses the real exchange rate, the one you get if you search it on Google. Its fee is small and shows on the screen, and most transfers arrive in seconds. Then check LemFi. LemFi says it charges no transfer fee on sends to Nigeria. Its UK terms say it makes money from fees on some routes, and when it changes money from one currency to another.

Which of the two sends more naira can change. On a £50 send the difference is smaller than the time it would cost you to install a new app. On a £500 send it starts to matter, so open both and use the one that shows more naira arriving. Either is a safe choice.

Cash for a relative who does not use apps, up to about £150

Use Western Union or MoneyGram, and pick the one with a counter close to where they live. They are not the cheapest choice. They usually cost a few pounds more than the apps on the same amount, in the fee, the exchange rate or both. Use them because a counter in Ibadan or Onitsha with a person behind it is what works for a recipient who is not going to open a new app for you.

There is a limit on cash. A transfer worth more than $200 must be paid into an account, not in cash. This is a Central Bank of Nigeria rule for money transfer companies. $200 is about £150. The app in the UK may still offer cash pickup on £200 or more, but the counter in Nigeria works under this rule. For more than about £150, send to a bank account, or to a mobile wallet with a limit high enough for the amount.

Western Union also says it pays cash in Nigeria only to a receiver with a bank account. A receiver without one can use a referee, a person with a bank account in Nigeria who can confirm who they are. Before you use MoneyGram, ask if the same rule applies. For a relative with no account at all, see how to send money without a bank account.

When you send this way, make sure the name you type matches exactly what is on the photo ID your relative will bring, including full middle names and the same order of surname and first name the bank uses.

To an OPay or PalmPay wallet, or a Kuda account

Send straight to the mobile wallet, not through a bank account. Remitly sends to OPay, PalmPay and Paga. Taptap Send also sends to some Nigerian wallets. Wise can pay OPay, PalmPay, Paga and Kuda too: pick the name from Wise's bank list. Kuda is a bank as well as an app. LemFi's Nigeria page says it sends to banks and mobile money, but it does not name a wallet. With any app, check that your family member's wallet is in the list in the app before you pay.

Sendwave sends to Nigerian bank accounts, not to wallets. Money sent to a wallet is usually there in minutes, and the recipient does not need a bank at all. If the person you are sending to uses one of these, this is the answer. It is also the best answer for recipients who have had trouble with a traditional bank account and simply prefer the wallet.

A wallet has limits too. Under Central Bank of Nigeria rules from 2017 and 2021, the lowest level of mobile money wallet can hold up to 300,000 naira and the next level can hold up to 500,000 naira. Those were about £163 and £271 on 6 November. So a send can be too big for the wallet, more so if the wallet already has money in it. The top level has no such limit.

The same rules set a daily limit on money going out of the wallet: 50,000 naira on the lowest level, 200,000 naira on the next and 5,000,000 naira on the top level. The first two were about £27 and £108 on 6 November.

A wallet firm can set lower limits. Before you send, ask your family member what level their wallet is. Also ask the wallet firm if the wallet can take money from abroad, because the lowest tier in the Central Bank rules further down this page also covers mobile banking.

Your first send with a new app

If you want to see whether the rate is real before you commit, try Remitly on the first-time-user rate. New customers get a special exchange rate on the first £250 sent, and no fee on the first transfer unless they pay by credit card. Compare the amount it shows arriving with the other apps, take the first send, then check again for the second. After the first transfer, Remitly prices like the others.

Apps to avoid

Small provider blogs will tell you their own app is the cheapest way. Some of them are legitimate. Some of them are not authorised in the UK and do not have a working complaints route when a transfer disappears. If you cannot find the provider on the Financial Conduct Authority register, do not send £200 through them to test. The sending apps named above are FCA-authorised. Problems can still happen with an authorised provider, but you will have a complaints route and someone to call.

The two rates

There are two exchange rates on this route. The app rate, close to the average market number, is what an app like Wise will show you. The other rate is what a bureau dealer in Nigeria, the aboki, will quote your cousin over the phone. On 6 November the aboki rate was a little higher. Wise's rate was around 1,845 naira to the pound. The aboki would buy pounds at around 1,850 naira.

The aboki rate is not always higher. On 24 October it was lower. When it is higher, the gap is not the app cheating you. It is that a regulated app works in the official market, for all its users at once. A dealer on the street has one hundred dollars in a bag and one buyer in front of him. He is quoting the rate he can strike, in that moment, in that amount.

The gap grows and shrinks from month to month. Even when it is wide, it is not a reason to send £5,000 through a WhatsApp contact who is willing to quote you the aboki rate for a home transfer. That is where money disappears, and where the sender has no route to complain if it does. The gap exists; the shortcut around it is where the trouble is.

The account catch nobody mentions

A Nigerian bank account needs a Bank Verification Number (BVN), a National Identification Number (NIN), or both, linked to it. A basic Tier 1 account or wallet needs at least one. Tier 2 and Tier 3 accounts need both. A Tier 1 account with neither can be placed on "Post No Debit or Credit". This rule comes from a Central Bank of Nigeria directive from December 2023. That means no money goes in and no money comes out until the account is fixed. A transfer from the UK to that account does not arrive.

In practice, banks also flag accounts where the details on the BVN and the NIN do not agree, for example a different spelling of the name or a different date of birth. An older account can be caught this way, where the BVN was registered under one form of the name and the NIN later under another. The family member may not know the account is flagged until a transfer does not arrive.

Before your next send, ask your family member to check two things with their bank: that the BVN and NIN are both linked to the account, and that they show the same name, same date of birth and same phone number. If the bank finds a problem, ask what the fix needs. It has to be done before the money is on its way, not after.

Two smaller catches from the same neighbourhood. A Tier 1 account in Nigeria has a limit of 50,000 naira on a single deposit, which was about £27 on 6 November. A Tier 2 account has a limit of 100,000 naira, about £54. Those limits come from a Central Bank of Nigeria circular from 2016. A larger send needs a Tier 3 account, which needs the BVN and NIN linked anyway. The bank may refuse a send over the limit, so ask your family member for the account's tier and limit before you send.

The limit is not the only rule for these accounts. The Central Bank's tier rules from 2013 bar international transfers on Tier 1 accounts and keep Tier 2 accounts for transfers within Nigeria. These rules do not say how this applies to money paid in by a transfer app. So before you send, your family member should ask the bank or wallet firm if the account can take money from abroad.

And on any bank-account send from any app, type the recipient's name exactly as the bank has it, full middle names included. If the name does not match, the recipient's bank can reject the transfer. Wise says the money can take up to 5 working days to come back, and sometimes longer.

What to do

For £50 to £500 to a family member with a Nigerian bank account, start with Wise, then check LemFi. Type the name exactly as the bank has it.

For a recipient who prefers OPay or PalmPay, send straight to the wallet from Remitly. Taptap Send also works for some wallets; check the list in the app. Wise can pay OPay, PalmPay or a Kuda account: pick the name from its bank list. Before you send, check the wallet's limit and that it can take money from abroad.

For a relative who needs cash in hand, use Western Union or MoneyGram at a counter you know is open near them, for up to about £150 a send. For more than that, send to a bank account, or to a wallet with a limit high enough for the amount. Western Union says the receiver also needs a bank account or a referee.

Before the next send, ask the recipient to confirm at their bank that their BVN and NIN are linked and agree, and to ask what limit the account has and if it can take money from abroad.

Rates and fees quoted here are current as of Friday 6 November 2026.

Corrections

• 2026-11-06: An earlier version of this page said that on the good apps the rate you were shown is the rate that binds. Wise says it holds the rate on most transfers only if your money reaches it before a deadline, so the page now says that.
• 2026-11-06: An earlier version of this page said the good apps take a small fee on the screen instead of a bigger one hidden in the rate, and that they buy the naira in seconds. The fee line is true of Wise but not of every app on this page, and we have no source for the seconds, so both are cut.
• 2026-11-06: An earlier version of this page said that on this route LemFi makes its money in the exchange rate. LemFi's UK terms say it makes money from fees on some routes and when it changes money, and they do not say this of Nigeria, so the page now gives what the terms say.
• 2026-11-06: An earlier version of this page put Wise's advice to get verified after its lines on large amounts and extra checks, so it could read as a way to avoid those checks. The advice is about the identity check, and the page now says so.
• 2026-11-06: An earlier version of this page said the aboki was a dealer in Lagos. The rates we use are averages from dealers in several Nigerian cities, so the page now says Nigeria.
• 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said a small send to someone you have paid before adds no time, that an app can pause a send that looks unusual, that a review is slow because a human has to look, and that using the same recipient and the same funding method avoids a review. We found no provider page that says these things, so they are cut and the page now gives what Wise says.
• 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said WorldRemit sends to OPay and Paga, and that a sending app can set lower wallet limits. WorldRemit's page lists those wallets but its own quote tool showed only bank and airtime from the UK to Nigeria, and we had no app's own limit, so both lines are cut.
• 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page gave only the $200 limit for cash in Nigeria, so cash under about £150 read as open to a receiver with no bank account. Western Union says it pays cash in Nigeria only to a receiver with a bank account or a referee, and the page now says so.
• 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said an app can pause a first send for a manual review. We found no provider page that says this, so the first send is cut from that line.
• 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page gave the Central Bank of Nigeria's daily wallet limits, 50,000 and 200,000 naira, as limits on a send to a wallet. Those limits are on money going out. The limits on what the two lowest levels can hold are 300,000 and 500,000 naira, and the page now gives both.
• 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said Remitly charges no fee on the first transfer. Remitly's terms say the no-fee offer does not apply if you pay by credit card, and the page now says so.
• 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page did not say if LemFi sends to wallets. LemFi's Nigeria page says it sends to banks and mobile money but names no wallet, and this page now says that.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page gave the deposit limit on a Tier 1 account but not the Central Bank's 2013 rules, which bar international transfers on Tier 1 and keep Tier 2 for transfers within Nigeria. Those rules do not say how this applies to money paid in by a transfer app, so the page now says to ask the bank or wallet firm first.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Wise and LemFi send to Nigerian bank accounts, not to wallets. Wise's bank list includes OPay, PalmPay and Paga, so the note dated 2026-10-19 went too far on Wise. LemFi's own page does not name a wallet, so this page no longer says either way.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said to use a Tier 2 or Tier 3 account for sends of more than about £30, and that a bigger send can bounce back or split. The Tier 1 limit is about £27 and the Tier 2 limit is about £55, so a larger send needs Tier 3. We had no source for the bounce or split, so the page now says the bank may refuse it.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page sent more than about £150 to a mobile wallet without saying that wallets have limits. The page now gives the Central Bank of Nigeria's daily limits.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said the app rate and the aboki rate were almost the same on 24 October, and gave around 1,815 naira for the aboki and around 1,820 for Wise or LemFi. 1,815 was a middle figure: the aboki was buying pounds at around 1,800. 1,820 was Wise's rate, and we had no LemFi rate for that day.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said an app has to buy naira at the official price, in the amounts a million users need. App rates differ from each other and from the Central Bank's rate, and we had no source for the number of users, so both are cut.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said a name mismatch holds the money for three to five working days and that the money sits. We had no source for this. The page now says the bank can reject the transfer, and gives what Wise says about the money coming back.
• 2026-11-04: We cut lines with no source: that the better app changes from week to week, that almost every problem happens at the Nigerian end, that older accounts are caught most often, that a fix takes a form and one or two branch visits, that families sending the other way use three routes, and that the BVN and NIN are the biggest reason a transfer stops. The page now starts with Wise and says to open both: Wise sent more on £200 when we checked on the morning of 3 and 4 November, and LemFi sent more on the afternoon of 4 November.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said everything named on it is FCA-authorised. That is true of the sending apps, not of the Nigerian wallets and banks named here.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said every Nigerian bank account needs both a BVN and a NIN, and can be frozen if one is missing. The December 2023 directive says Tier 1 needs one of the two, Tier 2 and Tier 3 need both, and the freeze is for Tier 1 accounts with neither.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page had a heading that called Kuda a wallet. Kuda is a bank as well as an app, and the heading now says so. The advice under it has not changed.
• 2026-10-24: An earlier version of this page said Remitly sends to Kuda wallets. Remitly's UK pages for Nigeria list OPay, PalmPay and Paga, not Kuda, so the wallet advice now names those three and says Wise can pay a Kuda account as a bank account.
• 2026-10-24: An earlier version of this page did not say that in Nigeria a transfer worth more than $200 (about £150) must be paid into an account, not in cash. The cash pickup advice now gives that limit.
• 2026-10-24: An earlier version of this page said a Central Bank of Nigeria rule from 1 May 2026 made the BVN and NIN match on name, date of birth and phone number; that circular is about other BVN matters and does not say this. The section now names the December 2023 directive on accounts without a linked BVN or NIN.
• 2026-10-24: An earlier version of this page said WorldRemit sends to PalmPay and Kuda wallets. WorldRemit's own page lists OPay and Paga.
• 2026-10-19: An earlier version of this page said Wise, LemFi and Sendwave send straight to OPay, PalmPay and Kuda wallets. Their own Nigeria pages list bank accounts (and, for Sendwave, cash pickup), not wallets. The wallet advice now names WorldRemit, Remitly and Taptap Send.