President Muhammadu Buhari has said that eNaira would make the financial sector more efficient and help tackle the illicit flow of funds.
President Buhari stated this while speaking at the fifth edition of the Future Investment Initiative Summit which held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Buhari said that Nigeria is at the forefront of the digital economy, having launched the eNaira on the 25th of October 2021, becoming the first country in Africa with a central bank digital currency.
What President Buhari is saying
In his address, the President stated that the eNaira was a solid step in the right direction and would boost the financial sector and checkmate fraudulent transfers.
“e-Naira, the electronic version of our national currency, which puts us on track to become the first African country to introduce a Central Bank Digital Currency” was launched on October 25th, 2021. We believe this and many other reforms, will help us increase the number of people participating in the banking sector, make for a more efficient financial sector and help us tackle illicit flow of funds.
“To further strengthen our anti-corruption drive, increase accountability and transparency, we have centralized government funds through a Treasury Single Account, and ensuring that all Nigerians with a bank account use a unique Bank Verification Number (BVN). These initiatives, coupled with our nationwide National Identification Number (NIN) exercise, reinforce our efforts to tackle corruption and fraud. We believe that this should give investors a lot of comforts,” the President stated.
He emphasised the relevance of the digital economy and how Nigeria is ripe for investment particularly in the digital space, saying, “Digital Economy in Nigeria has many potentials for investment, as it has remained the fastest growing sector in both 2020 and 2021. Nigeria has many opportunities for investment in broadband, ICT hardware, emerging technology and software engineering. We have recently approved the national policy on Fifth Generation (5G) network. Our aim is to attract investors in healthcare, smart cities, smart agriculture among others. The benefit of real-time communication will support all other sectors of the economy,”
In case you missed it
- After much anticipation, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s digital currency went live and is now available for download, as Nigeria takes the lead as the first country in Africa with a working CBDC.
- Nigerians displayed massive interest in the Central Bank’s eNaira initiative downloading over 200,000 wallets in 24 hours.
- President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier stated that the eNaira could increase Nigeria’s GDP by $29 billion over the next 10 years.
- The apex bank governor, Godwin Emefiele also mentioned that for the next 90 days, the eNaira will stay free of charges as it has already gotten the attention of a lot of users.
