In its bid to diversify Nigeria’s foreign reserve base, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun training of staff and operators in trading in the Chinese Yuan.

Lamido Sanusi, CBN governor, has always made a case for diversifying the country’s foreign exchange reserve, with a small shift into Asian currencies, in particular the Chinese Yuan.

“If anything is changing from a strategic perspective, it is that we’re looking towards the Asian currencies. If you look at surpluses in China and if you look at where the RMB (Yuan) is today and the likely future direction of the Chinese economic policy … we believe some position in RMB would be good,” he told Reuters last year.

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves, which currently stands at $34.9 billion, is held more than 80 per cent in US dollars, 10 per cent in Euros, and the rest in other investments including gold.

Source: http://corporatenigeria.com/2011/03/central-bank-prepares-market-for-chinese-yuan-trading/