Dollar to Naira Black Market Rate Today — Thursday, 9 July 2026

The naira held broadly steady against the dollar on Thursday, 9 July 2026, with the greenback trading at ₦1,396.39 to buy and ₦1,406.14 to sell across Lagos parallel market bureaux, a marginal decline of just 0.04% from Wednesday's close, offering little relief to Nigerians scrambling to fund overseas trips.

For travellers heading to the airport this week, the numbers remain sobering. The spread between the black market rates and the Central Bank of Nigeria's official window sits at roughly ₦17 to ₦27 per dollar depending on whether you are buying or selling, with the CBN official rate pegged at ₦1,379.25. That gap, while not as dramatic as it was in earlier months of the year, is still wide enough to sting anyone funding a hotel booking, school fees payment, or a leisure trip at the parallel rate. A traveller converting ₦500,000 at the street sell rate of ₦1,406.14 would receive approximately $355.61, compared to $362.56 at the official window, difference of nearly seven dollars on a modest sum that compounds quickly for larger allowances.

Those travelling to the United Kingdom face an even steeper bill. The pound sterling is exchanging at ₦1,866.91 to buy and ₦1,879.76 to sell on the parallel market. You can follow the full pounds-to-naira trend for updated figures, but at current levels a £1,000 travel budget would cost a Lagos-based traveller close to ₦1.88 million when sourced from a street bureau de change. Travellers bound for eurozone destinations are also feeling the pressure, with the euro quoted at ₦1,609.85 buy and ₦1,620.94 sell. Detailed movement on that pair is tracked on the euro-to-naira page for those planning European summer holidays.

Bureau de change operators near Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos continue to quote rates at or slightly above the broader parallel market average, a premium that reflects the captive demand from last-minute travellers with few alternatives. Financial advisers consistently warn against buying all your foreign currency at the airport, where competition among vendors is thinner and rates are less negotiable.