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How To Pay For Facebook Ads in Nigeria – Helpful Guide ([year])

How To Pay For Facebook Ads in Nigeria

After reading this post, you are likely never to encounter any issue if you want to pay for Facebook ads in Nigeria with the local currency, Naira.

Facebook has always been an excellent advertising medium for business owners in Nigeria, looking to spread the world about their new products to a likely target audience.

In the past, we only had the option to pay for Facebook ads with the United States dollar. This didn’t go well for most individuals. Some incurred debts due to exchange rates, rejected debit cards or monthly international spend limit.

To avoid this situation, most businesses opted in for dollar debit cards or paid advertising agencies to run campaigns on their behalf. But then, everything changed in 2017 for Nigerians.

The ability to pay for Facebook ads in Naira officially began in March 2017, with the help of the third party payment processor Payu.

How to Pay For Facebook Ads In Nigeria using PAYU

This integration came in as a lifesaver. Now, you don’t have to worry about running ads you won’t be able to pay for because of a declined debit card or a spike in our dwindling exchange rate.

Although knowing how to use Payu for Facebook ads is amazing, there is a setback; paying with verve card isn’t available yet but hopefully, soon they will. As at the time of this post, you can only use Visa and Master debit Cards to make payment on Payu.

Options available to Nigerians before Payu

In the past, Nigerians who needed Facebook advertising solutions for their businesses only had one option. They must use the conventional dollar Facebook ad account to run ads or find other advertising solution.

Despite its usefulness, running ads proved rather difficult for many as there were a series of unplanned expenses because of unmeasured ad spend rates. Some Nigerians ended up being indebted to the social media platform because their cards got rejected.

I created this post to help business owners who want to run ads but need a Facebook Ad account that accepts naira payments.

I hope this tutorial does justice so that you can easily create your own advertising account on Facebook and pay with the Nigerian naira.

If you are still running your Facebook Ad account and paying in a dollar, reconsider and switch over to a Nigerian account. It is better to be charged in Naira. At least you will track your spend rate properly.

Disadvantages of Using a US Dollar Facebook Ad Account

  • Most banks restrict international transactions on the Naira debit cards.
  • The Dollar to Naira rate is quite high, and this can incur unnecessary expenses
  • Inability to calculate ad spends because of the fluctuating dollar to naira rate.
  • Running adverts and discovering you can not pay with your debit card, thus, you find yourself in some crazy debt.

Having highlighted the above drawbacks of using a Dollar Facebook advertising Account, I will go further to guide you on how to create and pay for campaigns in Nigeria.

Before you continue, note that; you must fund your Naira Facebook Ad account before creating and running ads. It is actually better because you will not have to be indebted to Facebook. This is unlike the usual advertising accounts where you could spend above your life savings unknowingly.

How To Create A Facebook Ad Account In Nigeria and Pay in Naira

Note; If you have already created an ad account previously, you will need to create a new FB account or use a friend’s account for your brand new naira ad account.


How to Pay for Facebook Ads in Nigeria In Easy Steps with photos

Log on to facebook.com on desktop (recommended); in your homepage, On the left nav, locate “AD CENTRE.” If you don’t find it, click on “see more” to view more options, then select “AD CENTRE“.

facebook home page

Since you are new to creating ads, the AD CENTRE page will be pretty basic,to continue, simply click on any “AD CENTRE button to create your ad.

Facebook ad centre page

On the next page, you will find 2 ad options to create. If you choose the “Automated ads,” Facebook will walk you through a process to create your ad campaign. If you would rather do everything yourself, choose the second option and start creating.

Facebook choose ad type page

If you click on “create new ad” or “create ad type,” Facebook will take you to a page to set up your ads. I will do a basic walk through below;

Facebook create ad page

GOAL – Basically the action you want people to perform when they see your ads. If you need them to call you, choose “GET MORE CALLS.”

You can choose any other option that you require or let Facebook choose the best option for you. (Don’t worry if you see an error after picking an action, there is an option to set it up on the same page.)

Facebook create ad page - Goals

SHUFFLE CREATIVE – Do you want Facebook to optimise your ads? (This section is not available for some goals.)

AD CREATIVE – Basically, the look and feel of your ad.

  • Write a description
  • Upload up to 5 images or videos. Learn more about the recommended media size for Facebook ads.
  • change your headline.
  • Enter or edit the GOAL action details (this will remove the error on the page if you had one.)
Facebook create ad page - ad creative

DURATION

  • How long do you want to run your ads?
  • How much do you want to spend daily?

Minimum ad spend per day depends on the ad and options you select.

Since you want to pay with naira, set “country, currency” to “Nigeria and Nigerian Naira.” If you do not live in Nigeria, you can set the country to your location.

Facebook create ad page - audience, ad dration and budget

PLACEMENT – Where do you want Facebook to show your ads? Activate meta pixel if you want to monitor the action people take on your website.

Facebook create ad page - ad placement

Before you can run your ad, you need to add a payment method or pre-fund your account. Paying with Payu allows you to spend the money you have to spare. Now, In the PAYMENT METHOD section, click on “Add Payment Method.”

Facebook create ad page - payment method
how to use Payu for Facebook ads

Input the amount you wish to fund your Facebook ad Account with (minimum amount is N100).

Add payment method – If you selected Nigerian Naira, you will see 2 options to pay for your Facebook ads, “Debit or credit card” and “Nigeria payment with MasterCard/VISA.” Select the option and click on “Next.”

If you see the business tax info, it’s optional.

Facebook create ad page - add funds
how to use Payu for Facebook ads

After inputting the desired amount and selecting to pay with Payu, review payment and hit make payment. The Payu payment page will open. You are to input the following;

  • 16 digit card number,
  • Your account name,
  • Your card’s expiration date (month/year).
  • The CVV (often at the back of your card).
Facebook create ad page - pay funds
how to use Payu for Facebook ads

If your information is correct, Payu will send a one time pin (OTP) to your bank number. Copy, paste and complete your payment.

Facebook create ad page - card verification
how to pay facebook ads with debit card
knowing how to use Payu for Facebook ads

Note that some banks require you to register to do some online transactions.

I use the GTBank debit card and have encountered no problem with funding my ad account using the Payu payment processor.


Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What If Facebook blocked my debit card?

ANSWER: Payu is a third party payment processor, thus you can use your blocked card to fund your account.

Q: Why can’t I pay with my verve card?

ANSWER: Although Payu doesn’t accept Verve cards at the moment, I hope they give verve users the opportunity to pay with their debit cards

Q: Can I use Kuda card for Facebook ads?

ANSWER: Yes, you can use Kuda card for Facebook ads or any other Visa or MasterCard.

Q: What are the list of the bank that allow MasterCard on Facebook ads in Nigeria

ANSWER: you can use any Nigerian bank Visa Card or MasterCard to pay for Facebook ads using Payu.


Other Methods to Fund Your Facebook Ad Account

Earlier in this post, we mentioned the issues of paying for ads in dollars.

While I recommend you switch to a naira powered Ad account, you might not want to create a new Facebook account.

Here are some other alternatives for people who want to pay in dollars.

Pay with Dollar Cards

Following the low spending limits imposed on Nigerian debit cards, people looking to purchase items in dollars opt in for dollar debit cards.

You can get a dollar card from your bank or get a virtual card from companies like Flutterwave – barter.

If you decide to use a dollar debit card to pay for your Facebook ads, you will not need to create a naira ad account.

Try the barter virtual dollar card by flutterwave (currently not issuing dollar cards) or find more virtual card options.

Conclusion

This post discussed how to pay for Facebook ads using Payu for Nigerians. I suggest you use a Naira ad account as it makes it a lot easier to fund your ad wallet; It is also the only way you can pay with the Nigerian Naira.

You don’t have to worry about spending limits on your card or exchanges rates to fund your dollar cards.

If you rather pay in dollars, understand that you must use a dollar card if you want to fund your ad wallet with a substantial amount of money.

Some Nigerian Naira debit cards enable you to spend a little over $20 monthly, while many others do not support international transactions.

Also, note that exchange rate to fund dollar cards are on the tall side.

Have fun running your ad.

If you have questions about knowing how to pay for Instagram ads in Nigeria, you can use the same tutorial above as both Facebook and Instagram fall under META.

46 Comments

  • Pls mam I have two pages on Facebook but can’t earn anything as I make some videos and some write ups pls kindly help me on what to do so that I can earn some money

  • Hello onome,please I am having an issue regards payments on payu ,it says transactions unsuccessful whenever I tried and I have run ads before with a page I created in 2018 and the one I am trying to run ads for now is a new page.. I am using gtbank master card.

  • Hello onome,I paid for Facebook adverts,my money was deducted from my account but I don’t see my ads running, people are not reaching out to me and it is really frustrating cause I am limited time for the training I am advertising for.please help me out.

    • Hello, did you publish the ads? If you do not publish your ads, they will not go live. Also, getting contacted is not instant, and you also need to target the right audience.

  • Please help me out. Am finding it difficult to settle my ad account. We I try to ad a payment details it says card declined contact bank or try later

      • Hi Onome, thank you you for your thorough message, I have a naira Ad account but am not seeing the PayU optionn to make payment and its not accepting my Gtb master card either. What should I do? Kindly send an email privately please

  • Thank you so much ma’am the information is very useful to me. Please how do I make money after running my ads

  • Please my how can I run Facebook ads with my dollar virtual card? I tried using it and Facebook too $1 without running any ad for my post?

  • hello onome, All of a sudden I can’t pay… The error “we could not charge your ad account” keeps displaying when ever I try to pay. Does multiple failed payment block the card or what?? I equally tried a new card and I got a success message but I was not debited and I have not yet been able to run ads. I do not know why is that? I have also checked my facebook page and checked on account quality in ads manager to know if my account was disabled or my ads were shutdown but I had zero issues so I do not know what’s happening. Please I would really appreciate your feedback asap… Thank you

    • Hello Alex, have you tried contacting the Facebook ads team? If you account is in good standing, you should be able to fund your wallet and run ads.

  • Hello Nomzy,after imputing my card details and the intended amount was debited,I hope I won’t be deducted again in subsequent time without my notice

  • Good day Onome,
    Please i have a running ad account and I’d like to use a friend’s page to create my PayU account
    But my question is..after i do that, if i want to create an ad for a post, do i have to post it on my friend’s account before i can sponsor the post or i can post on my page and pay using the PayU account i created on my friend’s page?

  • Pls ma’am am having issues funding my account with payu. After filling in all the bank details required. After all it doesn’t show platform to fill in my OTP code.

    • Hello Adebayo, sorry about the ban. PayU only enables you top up your Facebook AD account. So, you can not get your money back from them because it’s in your banned FB AD account

  • Pls, I need to pay a debt for my instagram promotion that was stopped because the money couldn’t be deducted from my account, I’m having issues paying and I don’t know how to go about it.

  • Thanks for the tutor
    Please put me through on how to create a good ad account on facebook, I am finding it very difficult to fund my account and I don’t know where the problem is coming from

  • A million thanks for this helpful post. It has gone a long way to answer a lot of questions I had prior to this time. Please keep up the good work. ????????????????????????

  • Hello Onome. Thanks for this this step by step instructions. I have done everything as you explained and my account debited by pay4u through a friend’s Facebook page since I have an add running and couldn’t do so on my page, but I am yet to be charged for an unsettled amount outstanding on my page. Please what else do I need to do as I need to run more ads.

    • Could you rephrase? If you have an outstanding debt you can’t pay, the only option is to get a new card Facebook accepts. You cannot clear old debt with PayU, to my best knowledge.

  • I am having a serious issue on how to switch from credit card to Naira card for payment for ads on facebook.
    How do I go about it please. I need urgent response please.

  • Hello Onome, thanks for the great article. I have noticed that the payU option is no more for Facebook ads payment, and my card has been declined a lot of times. What do I do please. I need reply asap as I really wanna run ads immediately. Thanks dear.

    • Temple, before replying to your comment, I funded my Facebook ad through Payu. Were you able to use Payu in the past? If your account is the old advertising account, I suggest you open a new Facebook or use an alternate account and create a new ad account.

  • Thank you Onome for this one. I have been able to set up an ad account and pay as well. I needed to open a new facebook account. This information was very helpful to me.

    • Yes, your post was detailed enough.
      Thank you so much.
      But I can’t even open a new facebook account because as soon as I do, it gets disabled.
      I had no started running ads when these FB accounts were getting disabled.

      So when I was ready to run ads, I did it on the Instagram app, it ran the first day but the ad got stopped.

      Every attempt of mine to pay what is due on my Instagram app has not been successful.
      I even got a new debit card to no avail.

      Kindly note that I have never run facebook ads.
      I ran the ad from Instagram without linking a Facebook account.

      I can’t open a FB account as it gets disabled soon enough.

      I can’t seem to find your contact page

      • Usually, Instagram prompts you to connect a facebook account to your account before you run an AD, I’m surprised you weren’t asked to do so. kindly send a message onome@blogtrovert.com so we can try to fix that.

        About opening a facebook account, try this; use a friend’s phone or laptop or use a vpn. Do not create an ad account immediately, try to be as natural as possible with the account and use your correct details – your name should kindly correlate with your card details if you aren’t going to use PAYU

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