Nigerians Regaining Trust in the Naira — CBN Governor Cardoso Says Reforms Are Working
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has declared that Nigerians are beginning to show renewed confidence in the naira, a development he attributed to ongoing monetary reforms and improved macroeconomic stability.
Cardoso made the remarks on Tuesday during a post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press briefing held in Abuja. He emphasized that recent measures introduced by the apex bank have started yielding tangible results, particularly in terms of stabilizing the foreign exchange market.
“Very importantly, Nigerians are having greater confidence in their own currency,” he stated.
Citing an anecdote, the CBN chief shared that a local travel agent had recently requested payment in naira rather than in U.S. dollars — a small but telling sign of changing public sentiment.
“Those are the things that are happening across the board,” he noted, adding that such changes reflect a broader transformation within the financial ecosystem.
Cardoso explained that the recent narrowing gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates, alongside increased accessibility to naira-based payment systems abroad, demonstrate that the reforms are structural and sustainable rather than temporary fixes.
“A lot of what you see going on now is transformational… They are here to stay,” he stressed.
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