Key highlights
- The apex bank said Nigerians now have varieties of digital payment channels to select from including the eNaira.
- It encourages traders to embrace the country’s digital currency to reduce cash usage.
- The bank said the eNaira offers efficiency in payment and it improves security for users.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the introduction of Central Bank Digital Currency, eNaira has widened the payment options for Nigerians as the country goes cashless. CBN’s Assistant Director, Payment System Management, Chika Ugwueze, stated this on Monday in Calabar during an awareness and sensitization campaign on cashless policy and eNaira for traders.
While urging traders to embrace electronic payment with a view to reducing the movement of cash and to making transactions seamless, Ugwueze said the campaign organized in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee was meant to sensitize the public on the CBN cashless policy as an alternative to cash usage in Nigeria.
eNaira is not an alternative to a bank account
Explaining that the e-Naira is a digital form of cash that is stored in a wallet, Ngwueze said:
“The important message to all Nigerians is that the e-Naira is not an alternative to your bank account, but an alternative to cash in your wallet because it offers efficiency in payment and improves security.
“Generally, the e-Naira has helped to deepen the payment options in the market. The CBN has developed different platforms for using the e-Naira. As long as you have a telephone in Nigeria, you can have access to the e-Naira.
“There is no deadline for going cashless, we are just presenting options that will widen payment platforms and make them available for Nigerians.”
Also speaking, Relationship Manager, Access Bank, Calabar, Thomas Udie, said that the initiative was to create awareness of the cashless policy and e-Naira. Udie said that there was a need for traders and residents of the state to embrace the different platforms of electronic transactions with a view to reducing the movement of cash.
According to him, Access bank branches in Calabar have no issues with cash disbursement to customers, adding that the CBN has been supplying them with cash for the business. He said that the queues in most of the Access bank branches in the Calabar metropolis have also reduced.
On her part, Assistant Banking Officer at Zenith Bank, Calabar, Ebere Bassey, said that the awareness was timely in view of the cashless policy of the CBN. Bassey encouraged the traders to embrace the electronic means of payment and reduce their over-dependence on cash.
eNaira transactions
Despite its slow takeoff, the CBN recently disclosed that eNaira transactions have surged to 63%. At the end of November 2022, the CBN said that the eNaira recorded 700,000 transactions valued at N8 billion, this has increased to N22 billion as of March this year. About 13 million e-wallets have been opened since it was launched in October 2021, the report added.
How about petty traders and hawkers who have no bank accounts?