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To bring the eNaira to the grassroots, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it will authorise 10 agent-points in all the 774 Local Government Councils and the six Area Councils in Abuja.

As a first step towards that, the CBN has drafted motorcycle and tricycle operators known as okada and keke-NAPEP in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to be eNaira ambassadors that will drive the adoption of the eNaira in far flung locations across the territory as well as facilitate the awareness of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

Speaking at an awareness campaign organised for the associations of tricycle drivers (Keke-NAPEP) and motorcycle riders (okada) yesterday in Abuja, CBN coordinator, technical working committee on eNaira Hajiya Rekiya Mohammed, told journalists that the CBN was at the park to explain the “idea, aim, benefits and use of the eNaira application for everyday transaction to these commercial transport operators”.

Mohammed, who was represented by Dr Khalipha Nuhu, an officer in the information technology department said “we are here to engage the wider community of okada and Keke Napep riders to simplify the application for people to use it and onboard people unto the platform.”

According to her “from today, we are going to carry out this sensitisation programme through all the nooks and crannies of this country until eNaira is widely accepted.”

She then disclosed that the CBN is “targeting 774 local governments and each local government will have not less than 10 agents.”

Dr Nuhu told the commercial drivers that the eNaira platform has a language feature of the three major Nigerian languages

The adoption drive, Nuhu said, will cover “all sectors and all segments i.e government institutions, companies, small scale and medium enterprises and all currency users.

“The campaign is expected to improve their knowledge of the digital currency. Beyond the inclusive drive of the CBN, the commercial drivers are also encouraged to be co-drivers of the process for wider adoption of the project,” Nuhu told journalists.

He added that “not much literacy is required to transact on the eNaira platform, its multi-lingual feature of Nigeria’s three major languages: Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba provides easy usage for the majority of Nigerians without much technical knowledge.”

He told the crowd that apart from the mobile application, those without data network enabled phones can use the USSD code of *997# to begin transactions on the eNaira platform at no cost.

Dr Aminu Bizi, Chief Executive Officer of Bizi Mobile Cashless, a consultant engaged by the CBN to drive the grassroots adoption of the eNaira in Nigeria said the central bank has incentivised the process with the introduction of a discount for a tricycle customer and the driver.

”What it means is that any tricycle driver who does payment transaction with his customer on the platform gets 5 percent discount while the customer also gets equal amount of discount on the actual price of the transport fare”

“The essence of this is to reach the grassroot. If the sachet water seller, shoe shiner and other petty traders adopt its use, then the eNaira is good to go,” Dr Bizi said.

The major requirement to operate on the platform is a National Identification Number (NIN).

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