western union
Western Union is one of the oldest money transfer companies, with agents worldwide, and it is usually convenient rather than cheap.
In plain English
For decades, sending money to Nigeria meant one of a handful of names, and Western Union was among the biggest.
Its strength is reach. Agents in towns where no digital service operates and no bank branch exists. Cash collected by a mother in a village who has no smartphone and no account. For that, nothing has fully replaced it, and it is worth being fair about the value of that.
Its weakness is cost. Cash networks are expensive to maintain, and someone pays for every one of those agents. The charge appears partly as a fee and partly in the exchange rate you are given, which is where most people never look.
Digital services have changed things substantially. They frequently deliver more naira for the same pounds, sometimes considerably more, particularly where the recipient has a bank account and a phone. Which is now most of urban Nigeria.
So the honest position is this. Use the cash networks where the recipient genuinely cannot receive money any other way, and pay the premium knowingly. Where they can, compare what actually arrives, because loyalty to a name your family has always used can cost you millions of naira across a working life.
You send £300 through a cash agent out of habit and your mother receives ₦510,000. A digital service would have delivered ₦545,000 to her account. Over ten years of monthly transfers, that habit cost you over ₦4 million.
Questions people ask
Is Western Union expensive?
It is usually more expensive than digital alternatives, partly through fees and partly through the exchange rate. Its value is reach, particularly for cash collection.
What are the cheaper alternatives?
Digital transfer services are frequently cheaper where the recipient has a bank account. Compare the final naira amount on the day you send.
Is cash pickup still useful?
Very much, for recipients without a bank account or a smartphone. Pay the premium knowingly rather than by habit.
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