Nigeria president, Muhammadu Buhari has launched Nigeria’s first digital currency, the eNaira.
President Buhari launched the digital currency on Monday at the State House in Abuja.
Present were the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo; governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, and many other dignitaries.
eNaira to increase Nigeria’s GDP:
President Buhari, during the official launch, said the digital currency will increase Nigeria’s GDP by $29 billion.
He said the $29 billion growth would be over the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s GDP in 2021 stood at $514.05 billion, a report by worldpopulationreview has stated.
Buhari said, “We have become the first country in Africa and one of the first in the world to introduce a digital currency to our citizens.”
What you must know about the eNaira:
The eNaira is a digital currency which the Nigerian apex bank, the CBN, issues.
It is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) which Nigeria’s CBN issues as a legal tender.
CBN describes it as the digital form of the Naira and will be used just like cash.
It said “eNaira is the digital form of the cash and is a direct liability on the Central Bank of Nigeria while the customer deposits are direct liabilities on the financial institutions.”
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Meanwhile, the digital currency provides a unique form of money denominated in Naira.
It serves as both a medium of exchange and a store of value.
The digital currency also offers a better payment prospects in retail transactions when compared to cash payments.
According to the platform, eNaira has an exclusive operational structure that is both remarkable and nothing like other forms of central bank money.
To have eNaira, you would need a digital wallet to hold it.
eNaira Wallet:
The eNaira Wallet is a digital storage that holds the eNaira.
The Wallet is held and managed on a distributed ledger.
CBN says your wallet has the ability to access, hold and use the eNaira.
Benefits of the eNaira:
The eNaira, according to the platform, offers the following benefits.
- Provides fast, cheap, reliable and available payment channel.
- Supports digital economy.
- Improves economic activities.
- It is a simplified and easy cross border payments and trade.
- It provides inclusion of excluded people in the financial system.
- Also, the eNaira provides improved effectiveness of monetary policies.
- It brings ease in tax remittance and collection to support the Country’s growth.
How To access and transact with Nigeria’s eNaira:
The Centarl Bank of Nigeria has, in a post, said that anyone can access the eNaira through the following.
- Customers will be able to access eNaira via the wallet.
This access will be in app stores such as Google Play store and the Apple App store.
- Also, users can access the digital currency by dialing a USSD short code and following the required steps to perform transactions.
Steps To Open, Fund and transact with eNaira Account:
The CBN has said that the platform will make for easier financial transactions for users of eNaira.
It will provide users the opportunity to send money in form of peer-to-peer payments.
Through peer-to-peer transaction, users will send and or receive money to one another.
But the users will first link their bank accounts or bank debit and credit cards to their wallets.
They must scan a QR code on the platform to get started.
Also, this will allow customers to move money from their bank accounts to their eNaira wallet with ease.
Similarly, users can monitor their eNaira wallet, check balances and view transaction history.
They can also make in-store payment using their eNaira wallet.
How it works:
Explaining how users can operate their eNaira accounts, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele said Nigerians will be able to download the eNaira app from either Google plays store or Apple app store.
He said they will, afterwards, sign into the digital currency’s app and platform and fund their wallets.
They will be able to do so using their bank account or with cash at a registered agent location.
Other countries like China, Bahamas, and Cambodia have also launched digital currencies.
Implications:
The implication of this is that the eNaira will have huge acceptance.
It has also place the country as first in Africa to officially launch the digital currency.
Also, soon enough, Nigerians will be fully transacting with the digital currency.
Likewise, foreign businesses and transactions will be done using the digital currency.
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