Send Money from Australia to Nigeria

Measured on the full cost — the transfer fee plus the exchange-rate margin — Wise is cheapest on this corridor at A$1,000, across the 2 providers we hold checked figures for. The cheapest provider also changes with the amount you send, so compare the final sum that arrives in Nigerian nairas rather than the headline fee.

At A$1,000, Wise is the cheapest of the 2 providers priced at that amount on this corridor: about A$6.32 all in, or 0.63% of the amount sent. Western Union is next at about A$20.29. That is the fee plus the exchange-rate margin that applied to a transfer of that size — priced at A$1,000 specifically, not worked out from a measurement taken at some other amount. It covers a bank transfer; cash pickup and mobile wallet payouts are priced separately. The margins were measured by Wise's comparison service rather than published by the providers themselves, and other providers here may be cheaper and are not priced this way.

Delivery ranges from minutes to a few business days depending on the provider and payout method. Wise and Western Union can deliver within minutes when you pay by debit card. Bank-funded and economy transfers typically take one to three business days but usually cost less. Transfers sent outside banking hours or over a weekend may not settle until the next working day.

Across the providers we compare, the available payout methods are MTN Mobile Money, bank deposit, mobile wallet and cash pickup. The most widely used options in Nigeria are bank deposit to local naira accounts. Most digital providers pay directly into Nigerian bank accounts in naira, which is usually cheaper and faster than cash pickup. Not every provider supports every method, so check the table above before you commit.

No. Remitly and Western Union offer cash pickup in Nigeria, so your recipient can collect the funds with valid photo ID and the transfer reference number. That said, bank deposit to local naira accounts generally cost less than cash collection.

Providers rarely give you the mid-market rate — the reference rate you see on Google or Reuters. Instead they add a margin, typically between 0.4% and 4%, and keep the difference. That margin is often larger than the visible transfer fee, which is why a "no fee" service can still be more expensive overall. For AUD to NGN, compare the quoted rate against the mid-market rate to see the real spread you are paying.

Yes, provided you use a licensed provider. Every service listed on this page is regulated in Australia under AUSTRAC, which requires safeguarding of customer funds and identity verification. Send only to people you know personally, keep your transfer reference private, and be sceptical of anyone pressuring you to send money urgently to someone you have not met.

Yes. Each provider sets its own transfer limits, which vary by how much identity verification you have completed and how you pay. Larger transfers may require additional documentation such as proof of source of funds. For transfers above roughly A$10,000, a specialist foreign-exchange broker will often beat an app on rate.

Sendwave does not operate from Australia. Its own directory lists sending countries as the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal - Australia is not among them. LemFi does not operate from Australia. Its own help centre states LemFi allows users in Canada, Europe, the UK and the USA to send money. If you already use those services, you will need an alternative from the comparison table above for this corridor.

Wise is strikingly cheap on this corridor and strikingly expensive on another from the same country. At 1,000 AUD its cheapest method here is about 6.27 AUD — under one percent — while the same provider charges about 54.71 AUD to Nepal at the same amount from the same country, nearly nine times as much proportionally. The provider is not simply cheap or dear; it is cheap or dear per corridor. Pay attention to which card you use here, because the usual advice is wrong on this corridor. Wise's own table at 1,000 AUD puts its debit-card fee at about 33.07 AUD against 15.82 AUD by credit card — debit costs roughly double. We read the table twice on separate requests and got the same figures both times. On Australia to Pakistan the ordering is the normal way round, so this is a fact about this corridor rather than a rule about the provider. Mobile wallets reach people banks do not, and only Remitly publishes one here, naming MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Smartcash. Western Union publishes daily caps when paying by POLi of 50,000 AUD to a bank account and 5,000 AUD to cash pickup.