Central Bank of Nigeria

Central Bank of Nigeria

Headquarters	Abuja, FCT, Nigeria
Established	1958 (66 years ago) (1958)
Ownership	100% state-owned[1]
Governor	Olayemi Cardoso
Central bank of	Nigeria
Currency	Nigerian naira NGN (ISO 4217)
Reserves	28.28 billion USD[1]
Bank rate	18.7% (July 2023)[2]
Website	www.cbn.gov.ng

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the central bank and apex monetary authority of Nigeria established by the CBN Act of 1958 and commenced operations on 1 July 1959.^[3] The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN Act are to: maintain the external reserves of the country, promote monetary stability and a sound financial environment, and act as a banker of last resort and financial adviser to the federal government. The central bank's role as lender of last resort and adviser to the federal government has sometimes pushed it into murky regulatory waters. After the end of imperial rule, the desire of the government to become proactive in the development of the economy became visible, especially after the end of the Nigerian civil war, the bank followed the government's desire and took a determined effort to supplement any show shortfalls, credit allocations to the real sector. The bank became involved in lending directly to consumers, contravening its original intention to work through commercial banks in activities involving consumer lending.

The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN Act are to: maintain the external reserves of the country, promote monetary stability and a sound financial environment, and act as a banker of last resort and financial adviser to the federal government. The central bank's role as lender of last resort and adviser to the federal government has sometimes pushed it into murky regulatory waters. After the end of imperial rule, the desire of the government to become proactive in the development of the economy became visible, especially after the end of the Nigerian civil war, the bank followed the government's desire and took a determined effort to supplement any show shortfalls, credit allocations shoot to the real sector. The bank became involved in lending directly to consumers, contravening its original intention to work through commercial banks in activities involving consumer lending.

However, the policy was an offspring of the indigenization policy at the time. Nevertheless, the government through the central bank has been actively involved in building the nation's money and equity centres, forming securities regulatory boards, and introducing treasury instruments into the capital market.^[3] The bank has thirty-six branches each in the 36 states of the federation and the headquarters in FCT.^[4]