How much can you pay a supplier upfront from Nigeria?

That ceiling comes from the CBN's 2026 Foreign Exchange Manual, which the Central Bank launched on 16 May 2026 and brought into force on 1 June. The manual's own text isn't published, so every figure below is sourced to a dated reading by a named Nigerian law firm. For the wider picture of how a Nigerian company moves money abroad, see how Nigerian businesses pay and get paid globally. This article explains what the rules say. It isn't legal or tax advice, and on a large import you want your bank's trade desk and your own adviser looking at the actual transaction.

How much can you pay a supplier before the goods ship?

Up to 30% of the FOB value of the goods. The 2026 Foreign Exchange Manual raised that ceiling from 15%, where it had sat under the 2018 manual, and the new figure applies to physical imports from 1 June 2026. Three Nigerian law firms published the same figure independently in the weeks after the manual took effect.

Pavestones Legal put the new ceiling at “30% of the Free on Board (FOB) value of the goods” in its note of 12 June 2026, and again on Legal 500 on 24 June. WTS Blackwoodstone reached the same figure on 10 July and added the reason the old cap bit: 15% often wasn't enough for suppliers who wanted a larger advance before committing to a production run. So this isn't a technicality. It doubles what a Nigerian importer can put down before anything is loaded.

What does FOB mean, and what is the 30% calculated on?

FOB stands for free on board, and it's the price of the goods at the point they're loaded for shipment. Freight and insurance sit outside it. So the 30% is worked out on the goods alone, not on what the shipment ends up costing you. On a $50,000 FOB invoice you can send $15,000 before shipment. Add $6,000 of freight and insurance, take 30% of $56,000, and you'd ask your bank for $16,800 and it would decline the extra.

What it means for you: the figure your bank works from is the FOB line on the proforma invoice, so check that before you promise your supplier anything. A proforma invoice is the quote a supplier issues before the sale is final, and it carries the FOB price, the quantity and the agreed terms. If your supplier quoted you a landed price with shipping folded in, ask for the FOB figure separately, because that is the number the 30% runs on.

Do you still need a Form M if you only pay 30% upfront?

Yes. A Form M is required on physical goods coming into Nigeria, in Sterling Bank's words, “irrespective of the value and whether payment is involved or not”. Advance payment is one of the payment modes you declare on the Form M itself, so the 30% sits inside the declaration rather than outside it. Paying your supplier through an app rather than a bank doesn't remove it either, because the Form M follows the goods.

Sterling's page sets out what has to go with the Form M. The two items most often missed are the dates and the insurance:

• The proforma invoice, which has a maximum validity of 90 days from the date it was issued.
• An electronic insurance certificate covering 110% of the invoice value.
• A Tax Identification Number for the importing company.
• Whatever product certificate your goods need, such as a SON product certificate or a NAFDAC certificate, and a DPR permit plus a depot licence for petroleum products.

One instruction is worth putting to your supplier in writing: don't ship until the Nigeria Customs Service has registered the e-Form M. Goods that turn up ahead of a registered Form M are a customs problem rather than a banking one, and no payment route fixes it afterwards. For what each of the three trade forms is for and what did and didn't change this year, see do you still need Form A and Form M in Nigeria in 2026.

How do you pay the other 70%?

The balance goes after shipment, through whichever payment mode you and your supplier agreed on the Form M. Sterling Bank lists four of them: a letter of credit, a bill for collection, advance payment, or not valid for FX. Which one you pick decides whether your bank can source the dollars from the official market, and that is the part that affects how long you wait.

• A letter of credit: your bank promises the supplier it will pay once the shipping documents match the agreed terms. Your supplier ships against the bank's word rather than yours.
• A bill for collection: your supplier ships first and sends the documents through its own bank to yours, and you pay to have them released.
• Advance payment: you pay before shipment, within the 30% ceiling.
• Not valid for FX: you fund the payment from foreign currency you already hold, so no official-market dollars are involved.

Sterling states that a letter of credit or a bill for collection can be processed on a not-valid-for-FX basis “with customer using their own foreign currency domiciliary account funds”. So holding your own dollars takes the official-market queue out of the transaction, and it changes nothing at all about the forms. For what your bank charges on each of these routes, see how to pay international suppliers from Nigeria.

What if your supplier wants more than 30% upfront?

The 30% is a ceiling, and none of the published readings of the 2026 manual names an exception to it. Your bank is the one carrying the risk, which is why it won't stretch. An authorised dealer bank, meaning a bank the CBN has licensed to deal in foreign exchange, faces a base fine of ₦100 million plus ₦10 million for every affected transaction if it processes a foreign exchange transaction without adequate documentation.

There are two honest ways round it, and neither involves sending more money. A letter of credit gives your supplier a bank's commitment instead of your cash, which is usually what a large advance request is really after. Splitting a big order into smaller shipments resets the 30% on each one, at the cost of more paperwork and more freight. Whether your supplier will accept a letter of credit is worth asking before you start negotiating the percentage, because it often ends the argument.

Where does Daya Business fit?

Daya Business is for the money leg of the payment, not the paperwork. Daya Business holds dollars, pounds and euros in a CAC-registered company's own name, which is three currencies against one at Grey Business, where dollar accounts are live and euros and pounds are listed as coming soon with a waitlist, checked on 9 November 2026. Payouts from Daya Business go by bank transfer, wire, ACH, or on-chain in USDT and USDC, so the same account can send the advance and the balance.

Where Daya Business isn't the pick is the declaration. Daya Business doesn't register a Form M, and it doesn't produce the customs record the Nigeria Customs Service or your auditor will ask for, so on a documented import of physical goods your bank stays in the transaction whatever you use to move the dollars. Opening a Daya Business account needs CAC registration and business verification, so a sole trader without a registered company is pointed at Daya Borders instead. The question to settle before your next advance payment isn't which app moves the money. It's whether your Form M is registered and your proforma invoice is still inside its 90 days.

What else changed for importers on 1 June 2026?

Three other changes in the 2026 manual touch a Nigerian company paying abroad. Form A is no longer required for outward remittances from a self-funded domiciliary account. Form NXP processing for exporters is now free of charge. And a domiciliary account holder can make telegraphic transfers, meaning ordinary bank-to-bank wires, of up to $10,000 a day without triggering exhaustive trade documentation.

That $10,000 figure is the one most often read as a company spending limit, and it isn't one. For what it actually covers, see does the CBN's $10,000 a day limit apply to your business. For the wider set of rules in force this year, see Nigeria's money rules in 2026.

What should you do before your next advance payment?

1. Get the proforma invoice and read the FOB figure off it, because the 30% runs on that and not on the landed cost.
2. Check the date on the proforma invoice. It's valid for 90 days from issue, and an expired one sends you back to your supplier.
3. Register the Form M with your bank before anything ships, whatever share you're paying upfront.
4. Agree the payment mode with your supplier in writing, and tell your bank which of the four goes on the Form M.
5. Line up the insurance certificate at 110% of the invoice value, plus any product certificate your goods need.
6. Tell your supplier not to ship until the Nigeria Customs Service has registered the e-Form M.