This study examines the effect of remittance and export diversity on financial development in Nigeria. Employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound testing approach, the findings reveal significant long-term co-integration among these variables, suggesting they exhibit a synchronous movement over time. The Error Correction Model (ECM) indicates that approximately 70.5% of deviations from the long-term equilibrium are rectified in the subsequent period, highlighting a robust adjustment mechanism toward equilibrium. The long-term analysis shows a positive and significant impact of RI on FD, whereas INF negatively affects FD. Notably, RO, EXPD, and GE demonstrate no significant long-term influence on FD. In the short term, GDP, INF, and GE significantly impact FD, underlining their relevance in shaping financial development trends. Diagnostic assessments confirm the absence of serial correlation and heteroskedasticity, reinforcing the reliability of the model. Based on these insights, the study recommends that government and financial institutions foster the use of formal remittance channels to decrease transaction costs and enhance exchange rates, implement tracking systems for remittance outflows to support financial development goals, and diversify Nigeria’s export base by investing in agriculture, manufacturing, and technology sectors to reduce reliance on oil exports.