At official-market rates, £800 converts to about ₦149,000 fewer naira than in January. What a recipient actually receives depends on the operator's rate and fees.

Emeka Okonkwo runs a provisions shop in Mile 12 market in Lagos. His brother in the UK sends £800 a month, and Emeka turns it into stock. In April, days before a new rule took effect, he told Technext, "Now I'm just waiting to see what the bank decides I get."

The rule took effect on 1 May. The CBN directed international money transfer operators to route remittances through naira settlement accounts, so recipients are paid in naira. It also told them to use Bloomberg BMatch prices as guidance when pricing transactions. Technext reported that before the rule Emeka collected in dollars and sold them at a bureau de change. It put what he kept above the official rate at ₦40,000 to ₦50,000 a month, which went back into the shop.

Now the rate is the official one. On 23 September, the CBN's data put the pound at about ₦1,762, Nairametrics reported. It was near ₦1,948 at the start of the year. On £800, that's ₦1,409,600 today against ₦1,558,400 in January. The difference is ₦148,800. These are official-market rates, and what a recipient gets depends on the operator's rate and fees.

Nairametrics attributes the naira's strength to a combination of factors. It lists reserves of about $55 billion and a larger supply of dollars in the official market, among others. The CBN cut its benchmark rate by 350 basis points to 23 per cent on 22 September. Nairametrics notes that the naira held after the cut. That is its explanation, and this letter hasn't verified it independently.

The central bank counts the shift to formal channels as progress. It said inflows through licensed transfer operators reached a record $947 million in July and $3.8 billion in the first seven months, up 50.2 per cent on a year earlier.

For a recipient, £800 now converts to fewer naira at official rates. Separately, Lagos recorded 23.68 per cent year-on-year inflation in August, the highest of any state, according to the NBS.