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Thursday, Jul 31, 2025

Nigeria launches a central bank digital currency, eNaira, amid hope, scepticism - and plenty of uncertainty

Nigeria on Monday became the first African nation to launch a digital currency - the eNaira - a move its leaders said will expand access to banking, enable more remittances and even grow the economy by billions of dollars.

And here is how the Central Bank of Nigeria explains it:


CBN eNaira wallet become di first digital currency to go live in Africa.

Na di Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] dey issue di eNaira and e get di same same value as di fiat Naira.

eNaira na digital currency wey dey use block chain technology and na Nigeria first digital currency platform.

CBN say eNaira go provide "unique form of money wey dey denominated in Naira".

President Muhammadu Buhari officially lunch di digital currency on Monday October 25, 2021 for state House Abuja.

CBN eNaira wallet suppose guarantee secure, faster and more convenient transactions, according to banks.

Di eNaira wallet na digital storage wey dey hold di eNaira. E go dey for and dey managed on a distributed ledger.

Di Central Bank of Nigeria say e don receive more dan five thousand downloads of di e-Naira within few hours of di launch.

Di bank say charges on any transaction on di e-Naira platform go be free for di first 90 days.


How to use e-Naira - Nigeria digital currency
eNaira na di digital form of di cash and na direct liability on Central Bank of Nigeria.

Customers go fit access eNaira through di eNaira wallet for app stores like Google Play store and Apple App store.

Once customer get access to di wallet, dem fit use eNaira wallet to receive and send money.

Di customer deposit go be direct liabilities on di financial institutions like di deposit banks and CBN.

Users fit also dial a USSD short code and follow di required steps to perform transactions.

Di eNaira get di same value as di physical naira. As such, e go dey exchanged one Naira to one eNaira.

Commercial deposit banks say transaction wit e-Naira fit guarantee;
•Instant settlement
•99.9% service availability and reliability
•Low charges
•No dispensing errors
•No reconciliation issues
•Low charges
•Nationwide acceptance
•No dispensing errors
•Advanced data privacy and security


Di objectives of eNaira na to:

Aid financial inclusion
Improve payment efficiency
Improve revenue and tax collection, targeted social interventions
Diaspora payment
Di eNaira app (named 'Speed') go dey available for download on Google Playstore or Apple Store.
To access to use and spend di eNaira go get type by type based on di role of each participant, according to di Central Bank of Nigeria guideliens.
eNaira category of users
Financial Institutions (FIs)
Di registration of dis FIs na CBN go automatically do am.
Merchants
Merchants - dat na those wey go fit operate di eNaira wallet other than financial organizations, na FIs upon downloading di "eNaira Speed go do am.


Dem gatz access Merchant App" from di app stores and fulfillment of di following requirements:
a) Provision of all mandatory information;
b) Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions of eNaira speed app;
c) Acceptance of the Privacy Policy of eNaira speed wallet; and
d) Validation and activation by their preferred FI.

MDAs
Ministries Department and Agencies na CBN go automatically wen dem reveieve di correct mandate.

Consumers
Consumer wey wan use di eNaira wallet go be automatically do so as self-service.

Dis self-service upon downloading of di "eNaira Speed App" from di app stores and fulfillment of di following requirements:


a) Provision of all mandatory requirements;
b) Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions of eNaira speed app; and
c) Acceptance of the Privacy Policy of eNaira speed app.


eNaira mandatory requirements to fit use am
For a successful self-service enrollment for di eNaira Speed App, di mandatory
requirements for some BVN details must match similar details attached to di consumer
profile at di BVN database.


Di relevant information for a successful BVN validation check na:
a) First Name;
b) Last Name;
c) Date of Birth (DD/MM/YYYY);
d) State of Origin;
e) Email; and
f) Phone Number.


eNaira Unique Identifier for users
Di TIN, NIN and/or BVN na im dem go use as unique identifiers:


a) TIN go be for corporate entities;
b) NIN and/or BVN go be for individuals; and
c) BVN go be for merchants wey no be corporate entities.
eNaira Unique Identifier for users
Di TIN, NIN and/or BVN na im dem go use as unique identifiers:
a) TIN go be for corporate entities;
b) NIN and/or BVN go be for individuals; and
c) BVN go be for merchants wey no be corporate entities.

eNaira Transaction Types
Di many types of transaction for eNaira wallet.

Consumer Transactions

Di following go dey available to individual consumers on di eNaira platform:
a) Person to Person (P2P);
b) Person to Business (P2B) / Business to Person (B2P);
c) Person to Government (P2G) / Government to Person (G2P);
d) Cash or Bank account to eNaira speed wallet;
e) eNaira speed wallet to cash or bank account; and
f) Any other services as may be approved by the CBN from time to time.

Merchant Transactions
Di following go dey available to merchants on di eNaira platform:

a) Merchant/Business to bank account;
b) Merchant/Business to Person (M/B2P); and
c) Cash or bank account to eNaira speed wallet.
Merchants go sweep dia till balance(s) into dia FIs accounts on a daily basis.

FI Transactions
Di following go dey available to FIs on di eNaira platform;
a) FIs to CBN / CBN to FI;
b) FI to Government / Government to FI;
c) FI to Business / Business to FI; and
d) FI to Customer / Customer to FI.


MDA Transactions
Di following go dey available to MDAs on the


eNaira platform:
a) MDAs to Person / Person to MDAs;
b) MDAs to MDAs;
c) MDAs to FIs / FIs to MDAs;
d) MDAs to CBN / CBN to MDAs; and
e) MDAs to Businesses / Businesses to MDAs.

eNaira Charges and Cost Structure
Di charges for transactions wey go start from di eNaira platform go dey free for di
first 90 days commencing from October 25, 2021.

And then e go revert to applicable charges as outlined in di Guide to Charges by Banks, Oda Financial and Non-bank Financial Institutions.

eNaira Transaction and Balance Limits
Di transaction and balance limits for individual and merchant eNaira wallets dey below as follows:

Category Daily Transaction Limit Balance/eNaira Speed Wallet Limit:
Tier 0
(Phone number without verified NIN)
N20,000.00 to N120,000.00
Tier 1
(Phone number with verified NIN)
N50,000.00 to N300,000.00
Tier 2
N200,000.00 to N500,000.00
Tier 3
N1,000,000.00 to N5,000,000.00
Merchant
No Limit to No Limit

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