CBN: eNaira Records 700,000 Transactions Valued At N8bn

One year after the introduction of the digital currency, eNaira by President Muhammadu Buhari through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the apex bank said the platform has already recorded 700,000 transactions valued at N8 billion.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at the 28th edition of the apex bank’s annual In-house Executive Seminar with the theme, ‘Digitalisation of Money and Monetary Policy in Nigeria’, Naija News reports.

One of the primary aims of the digital currency, according to Emefiele, was to broaden the payment possibilities of Nigerians and foster digital financial inclusion, with the potential for fast-tracking intergovernmental and social transfers, capital flow and remittances.

He said the eNaira had been globally acclaimed as a success story. Represented by the Deputy Governor Financial System Stability, CBN, Aisha Ahmad, the bank governor, said: “Since its launch, a total of N8 billion, consisting of over 700,000 transactions, has passed through the eNaira platform.

“As part of the CBN’s effort to further integrate and broaden the usage of the eNaira, it was assigned an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code, enabling payments by simply dialling *997# on a mobile phone.

“I am proud to announce to you today that the eNaira has been attracting accolades across the globe as a monumental success.

“It topped the charts on retail CBDCs projects globally, as of April (PwC, 2022), and several central banks across the globe have been requesting our success template on the eNaira.”

According to him, the story of the 21st-century currency had been one of courage, persistence and commitment to exploring new frontiers and possibilities. He added that, as part of the digitisation drive, the apex bank had taken transformational steps in entrenching a culture of “big data” and data analytics as tools for effective policy making.

“To this end, the CBN Data Architecture Project (CeDAP), code-named ‘Project OXYGEN’ was commissioned, with the objectives of providing a repository of a variety of data from different sources,” he said.

While hailing the gains recorded since the launching of the eNaira, Emefiele said at 64.0 per cent, the inclusion rate slowed down the digital transformation wheel, as all citizens must be carried along to optimise the gains of a digital economy.

“While cash-based transactions have declined significantly in the last decade, it is still the dominant means of payment, amidst a large informal sector.

“Nigeria boasts of one of the fastest growing FinTech ecosystems in Africa, with the industry projected to grow by 12 per cent annually.

“But the technological space is still maturing, with limited market size, funding and venture capitalists, access to baseline technologies, and skills, as common features, ” he said.

Digitisation Of Money Enhances The Powers Of The CBN To Impact Its Monetary Policy

In his remark at the event, the bank’s Deputy Governor of Economic Policy, Dr Kingsley Obiora, noted that the seminar was an annual platform to brainstorm on topical economic issues.

According to him, the intention was to proffer policy options for the consideration of the management of the CBN. He also noted that through the past years, the seminar has lived up to its expectations by providing significant inputs towards improving management’s decisions.

“Our gathering here today should be seen as an important avenue to critically search for fresh solutions to emerging monetary and financial challenges confronting us today,” he said.

Obiora reiterated that the digitisation of money enhances the powers of the CBN to impact its monetary policy and that it also had the potential to change traditional structures of the banking and financial systems while sustaining the primary mandate of the CBN.

“The gains in the digitalisation of money spans enhancing tax collection, social welfare transfers, and, more importantly, providing benefits that would enhance the goal of cashless policy in Nigeria.

“Similarly, the digitalisation of money is very important for facilitating remittances, financial inclusion, financial market deepening and ultimately, economic growth,” he said.

He said that the eNaira platform had so far recorded 927,000 total downloads; 317,560 activated consumer wallets with 33 banks fully integrated and live on the platform.

“N3.0 billion has been successfully minted; N2.10 billion has been issued to financial institutions; over 3,320 merchants have registered on the eNaira platform across the country.

“Over 700,000 transactions amounting to about N8 billion has been recorded on the platform; and there are over 2.5 million daily visits to the eNaira website, ” he said.