The official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) digital currency, the eNaira, enaira.com has gone live, recording over one million registrations in 24 hours.
The website of the digital currency went live ahead of its formal introduction on October 1, 2021.
According to data available to thisislagos.ng, the website received over one million hits less than 24 hours after it went up.
The website promises easier financial transactions for users of eNaira, offers opportunity for peer-to-peer payments which allows users to send money to one another through a linked bank account or card; allows customers to move money from their bank account to their eNaira wallet with ease; can monitor their eNaira wallet, check balances and view transaction history; and make in-store payment using their eNaira wallet by scanning QR codes.
In addition, users can get started by scanning the QR Code on the website, making it a seamless registration process.
Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, recently told a gathering of foreign investors in New York that due to activities surrounding the country’s Independence Day celebrations on October 1, the earlier planned launch of the eNaira on the same date would likely be rescheduled to October 4, 2021.
“The central bank would not want the event to detract from the celebration of the country’s independence,” he said.
“We will be the first African country to create digital money. It is a revolutionary notion because we believe it will facilitate trade. With Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy, this will set the tone for Africa to know that we are ready to lead and that we will actually lead in trade.
“We are already working on certain coordination with the central bankers in ECOWAS to make trade, payment, and banking systems integrate in such a way to set an example on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” he’d added.
In accordance with worldwide trends, the CBN recently announced its formal engagement of global fintech business Bitt Inc. as its technical partner for the project, paving the way for the debut of its digital currency.
The CBN went through a thorough vendor selection procedure in accordance with the Public Procurement Act, which was overseen by seven departmental directors and a Deputy Governor and included the evaluation of various organizations.
The following criteria were used to make the decision: technology ownership and control; implementation timeframe; efficiency, ease of adoption; support for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT); platform security; interoperability; and implementation experience.
Emefiele expressed confidence that the eNaira would boost cross-border trade, improve financial inclusion, and result in cheaper and faster remittances. He said digital money will make it simpler to target social interventions, as well as improve the effectiveness of monetary policy, the efficiency of payment networks, and tax collection.
Nigerians should be able to download the eNaira app from either the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store after its launch, log in, and fund their eNaira wallet using their bank account or cash at a registered agent location, according to him.
“If you are a bank customer with N10 million in your account, you can tell the bank to load N2 million from your N10 million onto your wallet for your convenience in spending and making purchases. As a result, your physical cash balance reduces to N8 million, but your e-wallet balance rises to N2 million. You can use it to make purchases both locally and across the country.
“The eNaira comes in a variety of forms. But this is where we’d start since we’re not going to pretend that opening up your system is without risk. We’d look at the various items, assess the risk, and identify the best method to limit the risk before expanding it,” Emefiele explained.
Mr Osita Nwanisobi, Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, noted that the eNaira project had been a long and rigorous process for the apex bank, which decided to digitise the local currency in 2017 after significant research and exploration.