The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated that eNaira recorded a total of N8 billion in transactions in the first year of the eNaira’s launch.
This was disclosed in Lagos, at a conference to mark the one-year anniversary of the eNaira in Lagos.
Emefiele also mentioned that plans would be unveiled by the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee to ensure that the cashless policy is fully implemented throughout the nation. He did, however, mention that the bank has spent a lot of money in an effort to adopt a cashless economy.
What the CBN is saying
He said: “Specifically, there has been overwhelming interest and encouraging response from Nigerians and other parties across the world with 33 banks fully integrated and live on the platform; N3 billion has been successfully minted by the bank, N2.10 billion has been issued to financial institutions and about one million (919,000) customers have been onboarded.
He added that “over 3,305 merchants have successfully registered on the eNaira platform across the country including Shoprite, Sahad Stores, A.A. Rano fuelling stations, Fraser Suites, November Cubes, among others; over 700,000 transactions amounting to about N8 billion have been recorded on the platform and over 2.5 million daily visits to the eNaira website.”
Speaking further on the central bank’s plan to make Nigeria fully cashless, he said: “Banks have incurred a lot of costs in an attempt to embrace a cashless economy. We also had collaborations with mobile networks and had payment service banks (PSB) using all sorts of channels. The destination as far as I am concerned is to achieve 100 per cent cashless economy in Nigeria. I know that those who doubt We will say that 100 percent cashless is unattainable.”
He asserted that the CBN had created the conducive environment for cashless policies. He said, “I want to say we have provided all the needed infrastructure that will enable us make cashless a nationwide journey. It is not something that some of us will like, but we would in the coming weeks and months make pronouncements that must make cashless go nationwide. I believe part of those pronouncements will begin from tomorrow and there will be some breaking news tomorrow.”
“Even the bankers’ committee will hold a special bankers’ committee meeting tomorrow to deliberate on this, so let us expect the news.”
