All things being equal, Nigeria’s first digital currency named ‘eNaira’ would be launched on October 1, 2021. Though recent developments have put the aforementioned date in serious doubt, especially after litigation by ENaira Payments Solution Limited, a private indigenous payment firm, which claims that the CBN had infringed on its trademark and violated its corporate name by tagging its digital currency initiative ‘eNaira’. The firm in a suit filed with a Federal High Court sought a restraining order prohibiting CBN from going ahead with the official launching on Oct. 1.
Regardless of the outcome or decision of the court, one surest thing is that the CBN through the initiative plans to catch up with the rest of the world by digitalizing payments and receipts of our local currency ‘Naira’. While waiting for the court decision, we decided to bring you seven (7) major things you should know about Nigeria’s first and only digital currency-eNaira.
- What us eNaira? eNaira is a central bank digital currency issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a legal tender . It is the digital form of the Naira and will be used just like cash.
- Am I bound to accept it in lieu of cash? Since it is a legal tender, the CBN mandated merchants, businesses to accept eNaira as a form of payment and settlement of debts. From records, this shows that it is compulsory for everyone to accept eNaira when offered as payment. However, naijabusiness.com.ng is yet to ascertain whether refusal to accept it will attract legal consequences or not.
- Which firm developed it?The digital currency was developed by the CBN in partnership with a global payment firm, Bitt Inc.
- Where is the eNaira stored and How can I use it? eNaira wallet is required to access, hold and use eNaira. The eNaira wallet is a digital storage that holds the eNaira. It is held and managed on a distributed ledger.
- How is eNaira wallets created? For smart phone users, download the eNaira app (termed ‘’Speed’’) from either the Google playstore of Apple playstore and complete the registration process. We will further publish an article explaining this process in details. Watch out and follow naijabusiness.com.ng
On the other hand, for feature phone users, utilize USSD codes and follow the registration prompts.
READ: eNaira Platform Goes Live, records 1 million hits in 24 hours
6. What makes eNaira different from the money in my bank account? eNaira is the digital form of cash and is a direct liability on the Central Bank of Nigeria while the customer deposits are direct liabilities on the financial institutions
7. How do I connect my eNaira wallet to my bank account? The eNaira app allows customers to identify a bank of their choice, connect to their bank accounts, and perform transactions.
