[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 political controversies.

After the end of colonial 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.

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.

[5] In 1948, an inquiry under the leadership of G.D Paton was established by the colonial administration to investigate banking practices in Nigeria.

By 1 July 1961, the Bank had completed issuing all denominations of new Nigerian notes and coins and redeemed all of the British West African pounds that were circulating in Nigeria.

Responsibilities include implementing monetary policy, managing currency, and ensuring financial system stability.

The CBN's early functions were mainly to act as the government's agency for the control and supervision of the banking sector, to monitor the balance of payments according to the demands of the federal government and to tailor monetary policy along the demands of the federal budget.

By the end of 1979, most of the banks did not adhere to their credit limits and favoured a loose interpretation of CBN's guidelines.

Today Nigeria has one of the most advanced financial sectors in Africa, with most of its commercial banks having branches in other countries.

It is also one of the original 17 regulatory institutions to make specific national commitments to financial inclusion under the Maya Declaration[11] during the 2011 Global Policy Forum held in Mexico.

[14] In July 2021, CBN announced that it had ended the sales of foreign exchange (forex) to bureau de change operators.

[15] That same month the Bank’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, said that Nigeria would launch its own cryptocurrency, called "e-naira," in October,[16] which is not a cryptocurrency per se but effectively build on the blockchain technology[17] and available through the mobile applications eNaira Speed Wallet and eNaira Speed Merchant Wallet.

[18][19] At its launching by President Muhammadu Buhari on 25 October, the platform was joined by 33 banks and ₦500m worth of eNaira was minted.

[17] In June 2023, the president of CBN, Godwin Emefilele was arrested by the Nigerian State Security Service[21] and removed from his position at the CBN following a previous arrest attempt in December 2022 for "financing terrorism, fraudulent activities, and economic crimes of national security dimension."

This was after claims that Emefiele was waging a war on cash under a directive from the International Monetary Fund and the World Economic Forum.

[23] In February 2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria approved for the first time the inclusion of the CFA franc on Nigeria's export receipt forms, allowing its use by Nigerian banks for the repatriation of export receipts, this approval is expected to facilitate cross-border transactions with countries that primarily use the CFA franc.