How to Send Money in Nigeria (2026): The Free and Cheapest Ways

Sending money to another Nigerian account should be instant and cheap — and often the transfer fee itself is now free. But the rules changed on 1 January 2026 in a way that quietly raised the cost for people who send often. Here is how transfers work, the cheapest routes, and how to send safely so your money never lands in the wrong account.

The levy is unavoidable, the transfer fee mostly isn't. A statutory ₦50 electronic levy (EMTL / stamp duty) applies to transfers of ₦10,000 or more whatever you use — and from 1 January 2026 the sender pays it, not the receiver. Salaries and transfers between your own accounts at the same bank are exempt.

How transfers work

Bank-to-bank transfers in Nigeria run on NIP (NIBSS Instant Payments) — money moves between accounts in seconds, at any hour, using the recipient's account number and bank. You can send from a banking app, by USSD, or through internet banking. There is no "working day" delay for a normal naira transfer; if one is slow, it is a specific problem, not the system.

What a transfer costs in 2026

Two separate costs, and it is worth keeping them apart:

1. The provider's transfer fee. Under the CBN's revised Guide to Charges the caps are:

• below ₦5,000 — free;
• ₦5,000 to ₦50,000 — up to ₦10;
• above ₦50,000 — a maximum of ₦50.

2. The ₦50 levy, on transfers of ₦10,000 and above, now paid by you as the sender.

So on a ₦20,000 transfer the fee might be ₦10 and the levy ₦50 — the levy is the bigger cost, and it is fixed regardless of amount. That single fact should change how you send money.

The cheapest way to send: send less often

Because the ₦50 is charged per transfer, not per naira, the arithmetic is simple and most people ignore it:

• One ₦100,000 transfer: ₦50 in levy.
• Ten ₦10,000 transfers: ₦500 in levy.

Paying rent, school fees or a supplier in one monthly payment rather than weekly instalments is the single biggest saving available. Over a year, a household making twenty avoidable transfers a month is losing around ₦12,000 to nothing at all.

Two exempt routes worth planning around: salary credits and transfers between your own accounts at the same bank. Consolidating into one account, then sending once, is cheaper than sending several times from several places.

The free (or cheapest) ways to send

• Neobank apps — OPay, PalmPay and similar offer free or near-free transfers subject to fair-use limits. For frequent small transfers, these are the cheapest.
• Kuda — a free monthly transfer allowance, then a small flat fee.
• Moniepoint — strong for business and merchant use.
• Your bank's app — traditional banks charge a small per-transfer fee, now capped; check your bank's tariff.
• USSD — send without data by dialling your bank's code, for example *737# for GTBank. See the full USSD cheat sheet. Handy offline; a small session fee may apply.

One caution on the free-transfer apps: check which licence your provider holds, because NDIC cover is ₦5,000,000 per depositor at a commercial bank but ₦2,000,000 at a microfinance or payment service bank. Free transfers are a good reason to use a wallet for spending money; they are not a reason to keep your savings there.

Send safely — every time

1. Confirm the recipient's name before you hit send. The app shows the account name; check it matches who you think you are paying. Transfers are hard to reverse.
2. Double-check the account number — one wrong digit sends it to a stranger, and recovering it depends on that stranger's cooperation.
3. Send a small test first for a new or large recipient. ₦100 and a phone call is cheap insurance on a ₦500,000 payment.
4. Never share your PIN or OTP. Nobody legitimate needs either to receive money from you — see how to avoid bank fraud.
5. Beware the "wrong transfer" scam. Someone sends you money "by mistake", then asks you to send it back to a different account. The original transfer is often reversed or fraudulent, and you lose twice. Refer them to their bank.
6. Keep the receipt until the recipient confirms.

If a transfer goes wrong

NIP transfers are usually instant, but occasionally a debit lands without the credit. Do not panic and do not resend immediately:

• Check whether the money has actually left, and keep the transaction reference.
• Report it to your own bank first, in writing, with the reference.
• Most reversals resolve within a defined window; if yours does not, escalate to the CBN's consumer protection channel.
• If you sent to a wrong account number, tell your bank at once — the sooner it is flagged, the better the chance of recall.

Frequently asked questions

Is sending money in Nigeria free? The transfer fee is free below ₦5,000 and capped at ₦10 or ₦50 above that under the CBN's revised guide, and several neobanks offer free transfers. The ₦50 levy on transfers of ₦10,000+ still applies.

Who pays the ₦50 stamp duty now? The sender, from 1 January 2026. Salaries and intra-bank transfers between your own accounts are exempt.

What is the cheapest way to send ₦100,000? In one transfer rather than several — the levy is charged per transfer, not per naira.

How long does a transfer take? Seconds, on NIP, at any hour. A significant delay is a fault, not normal.

Someone sent me money by mistake and wants it back — what do I do? Do not transfer it yourself. Refer them to their bank and let the banks handle the reversal. This is a common fraud pattern.

Educational information, not financial advice. Charge schedules change — confirm current fees with your bank or the CBN.