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Highlights
- Nigeria has launched its own central bank digital currency on Monday.
- The digital currency was developed by fintech firm Bitt.
- The launched has been planned in a way that it would complement Nigeria’s physical official currency.
Nigeria has rolled out its central bank digital currency (CBDC) – the eNaira on Monday. Scheduled to be launched on 1 October, the process was delayed due to implementation issues. According to the official document, the launch of the eNaira culminates the years of research done by the Central Bank of Nigeria in developing the payments system in order to make transactions seamless process.
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Nigeria along with the Ghana were the early movers among the African nation to explore their version of digital currencies. In recent times, CBDCs have gained much traction ever since El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as its legal tender.
Nigeria starts its CBDC journey with eNaira’s launch
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for some time now was working on a workable model of CBDC that would help in replacing the cash system and use the digital mode of payments. As the eNaira is a new product, the Nigerian government is keen to put the system in place to ensure smoother implementation of eNaira.
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Why should one use eNiara?
Developed by the fintech company Bitt, the eNaira uses two applications for the CBDC. The eNaira speed wallet and eNaira merchant wallet, being the application will be available both on Google and Apple app stores. The Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele informed that around 500 million eNaira (US$1.21 million) have been minted.
With the eNaira, the Central Bank aims to create a secure and cost-effective process for remittance inflow to the country, along with other benefits. When compared to fiat currency, the eNaira is expected to be cost effective and the account holder will not be charged for daily transactions.
Besides, the traders will not be asked to pay for withdrawals and deposits to and from their bank accounts. Focusing on low transaction fees, the eNaira people can use the system even without a phone with proper internet access.
The CBN has also said that the eNaira can serve as a medium for the government to send direct payments to Nigerians eligible for specific welfare programmes.
Conclusion
The eNaira will help Africa nations to expediate their CBDC programmes as well and it will give them a template for others to launch their own. It will now be critical for Nigeria to ensure a successful implementation of the CBDC to ensure the people adopt in on a wholistic manner.
