E-Naira adoption rate ‘excellent’ with downloads from over 160 countries ─CBN

*The Central Bank of Nigeria says it has onboarded over 566,000 consumer wallets, and about 78,000 merchant wallets, with downloads occurring in more than 160 countries of the world

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Following the recent activation of the country’s digital currency, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said its e-Naira wallet has been downloaded over 566,000 times from over 160 countries as of Friday, November 12, 2021.

President Muhammadu Buhari formally activated the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), known as the e-Naira Monday, October 25, 2021, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, FCT.

ConsumerConnect reports the Bankers’ Bank stated “so far, we have onboarded over 488,000 consumer wallets, and about 78,000 merchant wallets, with these downloads occurring in over 160 countries (per Google Playstore and Apple Store data).”

Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN

The Bank also noted: “We have also recorded almost 17,000 transactions amounting to over N62million with the average transaction being about $9.3 each.

“These numbers suggest the adoption rate has been excellent.”

Recall the Bank has repeatedly enumerated the benefits of the Central Bank Digital Currency to include increased cross-border trade, accelerated financial inclusion, cheaper and faster remittance inflows, easier targeted social interventions, as well as improvements in monetary policy effectiveness, payment systems efficiency, and tax collection.

According to the CBN, the launch of the e-Naira was a culmination of several years of research work in advancing the boundaries of the payment system, in order to make financial transactions easier and seamless for every stratum of society.

The CBN described that e-Naira as the digital form of the Naira, issued in line with Section 19 of the CBN Act.

“It is a direct liability of the bank, a legal tender and will form part of the currency-in-circulation and will be at par with the physical Naira,” it said.

According to the guidelines introduced by the apex bank, e-Naira will complement traditional Naira as a less costly, more efficient, generally acceptable, safe and trusted means of payment.

Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN, also noted that the Bank takes the issue of security very seriously, and the e-Naira system would be treated as a National Critical Infrastructure as he said it would be subjected to comprehensive security checks upon activation.

The Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country are expected to market and promote the adoption of e-Naira as a digital version of cash to existing and potential consumers in support of financial inclusion objective of the CBN in the country.

The CBN as well said this would improve monetary policy effectiveness, and enhance government’s capacity to deploy targeted social interventions and boost remittances through formal channels.

The e-Naira wallet is required to access, use and hold e-Naira, the bank stated, adding, the e-Naira would be exchangeable for other Central Bank Digital Currencies.

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