When the naira is not losing value in its spare time, it’s getting a digital facelift called the “eNaira”.
Remember that just a few weeks ago, the Central Bank Governor, Meffy, told the owners and supporters of AbokiFX, a website that publishes the exchange rate of the naira, to come to the CBN headquarters for tea a fight.
Well, non-violent developments are still happening for the CBN — and the naira. On October 4, 2021, the CBN will begin “Project Giant”, the first phase of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project named “eNaira”.
In essence, the CBN wants to make a digital version of the naira.
What Is A Digital Currency?
Digital currency is any type of money that is purely electronic. So if you can touch it and spray it on your friend at their wedding, then it’s not a digital currency.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are good examples of digital currencies.
Why Did The CBN Decide To Make A Digital Naira?
In 2017, the CBN decided to make a digital version of the naira after concluding its research. Because a lot of people now pay for things online through their mobile phones, the CBN felt a digital currency was the way forward.
The CBN is not alone in this decision. The central banks of about 80 countries also have plans to create digital versions of their currencies.
Bitt Inc, a Barbados based financial software company, was chosen to develop the eNaira system and the eNaira will be built on the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain Technology.
It is believed that with the adoption of the eNaira, Nigerians will be able to send money, receive money and make payments faster, easier and with lower costs.
What Is The Purpose of The eNaira?
The CBN says that the eNaira will help do these many things:
- Increase international trade;
- Bring more people into the financial system;
- Allow people to send money to Nigeria faster and cheaper;
- Allow the government to pay poor people easily;
- Allow the CBN to make better policies to help the naira;
- Allow people to make payments easily;
- Allow the naira become more secure;
- Allow the government to collect taxes better.
How Will The eNaira Work?
The eNaira is a digital version of the naira, and the eNaira will have the same value as the naira.
Nigerians will be able to download the eNaira app from the GooglePlay Store and the Apple App store from October 4, 2021. People can fund their eNaira wallets directly through their bank accounts or a registered agent at a physical location.
The eNaira has three different tiers; tier one is for customers without an existing bank account, tier two is for customers who plan to do minimal spending and tier three is for customers who plan to spend regularly.
You don’t need to have an existing bank account if you want to purchase eNaira of just ₦50,000 in a day. All you need do to fund your wallet is to provide your National Identity Number (NIN) verified phone number.
If you want to fund your eNaira wallet with more than ₦200,000 in a day, then you will need to provide your Bank Verification Number (BVN) along with a valid means of identification. If you want to fund your eNaira wallet with more than ₦1 million in a day, then you will have to provide a public utility receipt like your electricity bill.
All the naira you have will be stored on the eNaira wallet which comes when you download the eNaira app. The wallet generates a security token every time you want to make a payment through it so that your transactions are secure.
Already, there have been over one million impressions on the eNaira website within the 24 hours that it was launched.
The naira is surely having an interesting time at the moment. Perhaps Meffy will be in a better mood and we won’t have any fights.
