Nigeria: Why we adopted eNaira, by Emefiele

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor  Godwin Emefiele has said the adoption of the eNaira was meant to strengthen the payment system infrastructure.

He assured that the CBN will always invest in hi-tech projects that will boost the nation’s global competitiveness.

He made these known in Abuja yesterday when he hosted a delegation from the Bank of Uganda. The team came to Nigeria to study the Central Bank Digital Currency (eNaira).

Emefiele said: “The eNaira, being the first of its kind for a large country like Nigeria, was attracting the interests of many countries, Uganda inclusive.

“We’ve been receiving enquiries from various Central Banks in different parts of Africa and the world, trying to understand what we are doing in the area of CBDC. We are happy that the IMF and World Bank have recognised what we are doing in the area of CBDC.”

The CBN governor expressed delight that Nigeria has “deepened our payment system infrastructure and pride ourselves as a global player”.

The CBDC was launched last October by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He noted that the embrace of the CBDC and its technology, called block chain, has the potential of swelling Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $29 billion over the next 10 years.

The President also declared that the introduction of the eNaira would enable the government to send direct payments to citizens eligible for specific welfare programmes as well as foster cross border trade.

According to him, the CBDCs can foster economic growth through better economic activities, increase remittances, improve financial inclusion and make monetary policy more effective by leveraging digital innovations.