Emefiele to Mark First Anniversary of eNaira with Review Workshop

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele is set to host the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami and that of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq, at a one-day review workshop in Lagos next Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of Africa’s first Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), eNaira.

The workshop is themed, “Leveraging Innovation for Inclusive Growth and Development: The eNaira Advantage.”

The two ministers will be speakers at the event.

In a statement yesterday, CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi said the objectives of the workshop include the review of the eNaira implementation journey, one year after; how to drive further adoption of the eNaira through public engagement and how to facilitate global policy dialogue on CBDC to promote peer learning and benchmarking.

He said the event would also feature a policy round-table discussion on “Effective Collaboration for National Development (Infrastructure, Interoperability, regulation)” and a panel discussion on “eNaira Adoption for economic growth.”

He added: “The CBN, therefore, encourages Nigerians to be part of the celebration which shall be streamed live on the Bank’s social media channels, as well as those dedicated to the eNaira.

Other key participants expected at the event include the Chief Executives of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), members of the Bankers’ Committee, the academia, financial services, and telecommunications regulators, merchants, agents, cooperative groups and technical experts, the entertainment industry; among others.

The implementation of the eNaira has put Nigeria in the global spotlight as one of the pioneers to deploy a CBDC into live production. This has continued to attract the interest of global stakeholders such as the IMF, World Bank, other Central Banks, and the CBDC community.

In a related development, the CBN yesterday continued its sensitisation on how to utilise eNaira in Oshodi market, Lagos.

CBN’s Director, Information Technology Department, Hajia Rakiya Mohammed, represented by Dr. Khalifa Nuhu of the Information Technology Department, CBN eNaira secretariat, noted that this sensitisation would drive adoption.

She said: “I’m sure you’re all aware of what eNaira is and it is our hope and expectation that today, this activity will also improve other people’s awareness especially in Lagos. Lagos, being a commercial hub in this country, we also hope this will propel awareness across the whole country.

“So, in terms of numbers, we have had a large number onboard the eNaira and this is one of the reasons why we are here today to increase those numbers.

“We are engaging both the Keke Napep which we call Maruwa in Lagos, we are engaging market women and men.

The scope for today is wider than the last one. It’s not just one community. We’re looking at the Maruwa community, which is Keke Napep; buyers and sellers and also people using BRT and other means of transport. That’s why it’s bigger than last year.

“The beauty about eNaira is that it is not a very technical application in terms of how you can access it, you can access it through multiple channels. You can access it using an Android phone or a smartphone if you are good with that. If you’re not good with that type of technology or you don’t have that type of phone, you can also access it using USSD which is the *997#, which is very easy. That is why we are engaging agents. As you can see, we have different agents wearing different types of Tshirts. So, the agents will also onboard you, guide you step by step on how to use eNaira.”