Nigeria: No, Nigeria's Central Bank Has Not Extended Recapitalisation Deadline for Bureau De Change Operators to December 2025

31 July 2025
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Motunrayo Joel

No, Nigeria's central bank has not extended recapitalisation deadline for bureau de change operators to December 2025

IN SHORT: Despite many claims on social media to the contrary, the country's banking regulator has not extended the deadline for operators to reapply for a new licence. The deadline was 3 June 2025.

Posts on social media continue to circulate the claim that Nigeria's central bank has extended the deadline for bureau de change (BDC) operators to apply for a new licence under updated rules.

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"BREAKING: CBN Extends Recapitalization of BDC Operators, See New Deadline," reads a Facebook post from 11 June 2025.

In May 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued new operational guidelines instructing the operators to reapply for licences.

This followed the regulator raising the required operating capital, with a tier-1 licence requiring N2 billion (about US$1.3 million). This category can operate countrywide.

Those seeking a tier-2 licence, which allows operations within a single state, require a capital base of N500 million.

Before the reforms, the minimum capital requirement for obtaining a BDC licence in the country was 35 million naira.

The central bank then set a deadline of November 2024 for the operators to meet the new minimum capital requirements for their licence category.

However, later that month, Aminu Gwadebe, the president of the Association of Bureaux De Change of Nigeria, said the CBN had extended the deadline by six months to 3 June 2025.

The claim that the deadline has again been extended again, this time to 31 December, continues to circulate on Facebook.

But is this official? We checked.

CBN has not extended the deadline

We searched the CBN's official social media accounts for an extension notice but found nothing.

In June, acting spokesperson Hakama Sidi Ali issued a media statement saying the information was false and misleading, and that it should be disregarded.

According to Ali, 3 June remained the deadline. Since then, there have been reports of concern about the disproportionate geographical nature of those who have managed to meet this deadline.

Claiming that the CBN's recapitalisation deadline has been extended when it has not could result in regulatory violations, financial losses, market instability and a loss of public and investor confidence.

This claim also appears here, here, here and here.

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