eNaira website witness over 2.5million daily visit — Emefiele
By Idris Bakare
The website of eNaira has witness over 2.5million daily visit after one year of its launch.The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele disclosed this during the first anniversary of the eNaira launch in Lagos on Tuesday.
eNaira is a digital currency issued by the Nigerian government with same value as fiat Naira. It is to be purchased by the general public through FI and transferred into e-wallet maintained by customers.
It is not intended to replace cash but will function as a safe and efficient alternative means of payment.
Unlike digital banking which involves customers transacting with money maintained by them in a bank, eNaira is actual money earned and maintained by customers in thier e-wallets. Consequently, customers will be able to transact with it like fiat currency without the involvement of intermediaries as is the case with digital Banking.
Speaking at the event, Emefiele said the eNaira is expected to enhance financial inclusion, support poverty reduction, enable direct welfare disbursement to citizens, support a resilient payments ecosystem, improve the availability and usability of central bank money, facilitate diaspora remittances, reduce the cost of processing cash, and reduce cost and improve efficiency of cross-border payment among others.
He explained that after one year of its launch, 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.
Other milestones achievement of the eNaira show that 33 banks are fully integrated it on their platform, N3.00 billion has been successfully minted by the Central Bank, and N2.10 billion has been issued to financial institutions.
The CBN Governor, said the eNaira is a journey that started five years ago, precisely 2017. It is not a one-off event, but a journey of possibilities.
He 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.
In his words, “We celebrate the successes achieved so far by the CBN and all Nigerians, it must be acknowledged that the journey is iterative and today is just another step and not the destination. Therefore, the team continues to work fastidiously to bring enhanced features and improved user experience to the eNaira. To this end, the coverage of collaboration was enlarged in a bid to further drive adoption.”
“The CBN acknowledges the daunting task ahead. We therefore call on all relevant stakeholders, including the Financial Institutions, NIBSS, FinTech groups, Telcos and merchants to collaborate, innovate, deepen and enhance the value of eNaira to Nigerians and to Nigeria.
“It is the Bank’s hope that the eNaira will drive the digital economy agenda and foster a more prosperous Nigeria,” Emefiele expressed.
Recall, last year, the CBN issued a directive that prohibited banks taking part in financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies, in which many Nigerians have placed their savings as a hedge against Naira depreciation.
Although the CBN later clarified that individuals were not prohibited from buying and selling, traders were forced to carry out thier business on peer-to-peer platforms, an effective black market.
The eNaira is aimed at boosting transparency by allowing the regulator to better monitor currency transactions and curb black market trading in the paper Naira.
The new currency is built on blockchain’s open ledger technology, which reduces the risk of fraud by ensuring each eNaira note is unique and can’t be duplicated or counterfeited.
The eNaira is also aimed at boosting in-bound remittances by providing a cheaper, more secure and faster way for Nigerians in the diaspora to send back money.
