The governor put gross reserves at $55.25 billion. The official exchange rate has held near ₦1,330. In July he said reserves are not there to fix a rate.

"The reserves have crossed US$55 billion," Governor Olayemi Cardoso said after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 22 September. He called it the highest number in more than 18 years and credited consistency, discipline and diaspora contributions.

TheDigger reported that Cardoso put gross reserves at $55.25 billion as of 18 September. CBN daily data reported by Nairametrics show $54.69 billion on 17 September and $54.86 billion on 24 September. Those figures don't fit together as one series, and neither report explains the gap. TheDigger asked the CBN for the net figure on 24 September, and its 28 September report is headlined as the number the CBN didn't give.

In July, Cardoso told senators gross reserves were $52.73 billion as of 9 July, while net reserves were over $40 billion.

He also said reserves are meant for exceptional circumstances, when external shocks threaten market stability, and not for routine intervention. Higher reserves, he said, don't mean the CBN will maintain a fixed exchange rate.

The official rate was ₦1,330.47 to the dollar on Tuesday and ₦1,331.33 on Monday, Naija News reported from CBN data. It reported the parallel market at ₦1,382. Nairametrics reported the official rate holding between ₦1,327 and ₦1,330 after the rate cut.

Foreign portfolio investment was $9.86 billion, or 95.1 per cent, of the $10.37 billion in capital imported in the first quarter, according to NBS data cited in a report. Nairametrics quoted unnamed experts saying portfolio money is more sensitive to interest rates, exchange-rate expectations and investor sentiment than long-term investment. On 22 September the CBN cut its policy rate by 350 basis points, to 23 per cent.

Cardoso said in July that official monthly remittances had passed $600 million, and that the CBN expects about $1 billion a month by the end of 2026.