October 25, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), eNaira, recorded N8 billion in over 700,000 transactions one year after its launch. Thirty-three banks are also fully integrated and live on the platform with about one million customers already onboarded during the period.
These disclosures were made by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday, October 25, in his keynote address to mark the first anniversary of eNaira, Africa’s first central bank digital currency.
He said that the eNaira had offered Nigerians endless possibilities in using financial services, thus living up to the chosen slogan, “Same Naira, More Possibilities” as the scheme accelerates the pace of financial inclusion targeting the unbanked, especially in the hard-to-reach countryside.
Other achievements of the eNaira include the N3 billion that has been successfully minted by the Bank and N2.10 billion already issued to financial institutions.
“Over 3,305 merchants have successfully registered on the eNaira platform across the country including Shoprite, Sahad Stores, A.A. Rano fuelling stations, Fraser Suites, November Cubes, among others”, Emefiele said, adding that, “Over 2.5 million daily visits to the eNaira website.”
Enumerating the objective of the digital currency, Emefiele said, “Explicitly, the eNaira is expected to enhance financial inclusion, support poverty reduction, enable direct welfare disbursement to citizens, support a resilient payments ecosystem, improve availability and usability of central bank money, facilitate diaspora remittances, reduce the cost of processing cash, and reduce cost and improve the efficiency of cross-border payment among others.
“In summary, the eNaira is designed to provide Nigerians with a cheap, safe and trusted means of payment within the domestic and global economy.”
He acknowledged the support of other partner agencies, groups and platforms which has made the success story of the eNaira a reality within one year of its launch.
He said the rapid expansion of the telecommunication services and their penetration into the remote areas of the country would help in the quick deployment of the eNaira to accelerate the financial inclusion strategy through several payment systems.
“Specifically, the Bank engaged Partner agents, which are corporate entities to sensitize users, promote the eNaira and facilitate the onboarding of a large number of new eNaira users, in collaboration with the project team.
“Furthermore, the team has leveraged the robust collaborative environment in the payments and digital financial services ecosystem by engaging the Super Agents, Fintechs, Association of Licensed Mobile Payment Operators (ALMPO), Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) among others to foster greater adoption especially in the underserved and unbanked segments of the population.
“In addition, bearing in mind that the youth are the driving force of the economy, the Bank is actively collaborating with the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Engaging these young minds will help drive innovation and secure the future of Nigeria.”
Emefiele said Nigerians should expect to see additional functionalities in the coming months, including:
– Onboarding of revenue collection agencies to increase and simplify collections
– Collaborating with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs through the creation of sector-specific tokens to support the Federal Government’s social programmes and distribution of targeted welfare schemes in a bid to lift millions out of poverty by 2025.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
