CPs were introduced in Nigeria in 1962 to finance the export-marketing operations of the then Northern
Marketing Board. Under that arrangement, the Marketing Boards met their cash requirements by drawing
ninety-day (90-day) bills of exchange on the Marketing Boards.
The bills were then discounted with the commercial banks participating in the scheme. The role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) at the time, was to provide rediscounting facilities for the bills. In 1968, the CBN took over the responsibility from the Marketing Boards.