TECHDIGEST – The Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in charge of Economic Policies, Kingsley Obiora, has said that the eNaira launched by their apex bank will facilitate efficient, and reliable payments for electronic transactions.

He made this known while delivering his opening remark during the ‘Abuja eNaira Merchants Mega Events’ held at the Abuja Chambers of Commerce and Industry Conference Centre.

The event was organized by CBN, in collaboration with Arabatech, Pnail, and the Abuja chambers of Commerce and Industry, ACCI.

Obiora explained that the introduction of the eNaira by the CBN has immediately put Nigeria in the global spotlight as the first African country to launch the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

He said: “As a complement to the existing forms of CBN-issued legal tender currency, the eNaira serves as both a store of value and a medium of exchange, offering improved efficiency in Nigeria’s payment ecosystem.

“This event therefore seeks to bring together regulators, partners, merchants and other key stakeholders to further deepen the adoption of the eNaira, thereby enhance Nigeria’s quest for economic development that is supported by a world class payment system infrastructure”.

The apex bank Deputy Governor assured merchants that the CBN will continue to innovate and upgrade the eNaira platform to serve business and deepen the digital economy in Nigeria.

“Merchants such as petrol stations, supermarkets, e-commerce and other businesses not only have significant roles to play in driving the adoption of eNaira, but can also leverage on the opportunities offered by eNaira to improve cash management and make savings in operating the cost,” Obiora said.

He further disclosed that CBN has approved a reward scheme for merchants and other users of eNaira.

According to him, “This reward scheme includes providing merchants with the required promotional (marketing) materials, subsidizing the current merchant service charge by 50% and activation of a nationwide sensitization which early business adopters of eNaira can leverage on to market its wider adoption.

“Value added services on the platform includes branch/sub wallets, employees management (i.e roles and permissions) as well as interoperability with other enterprise applications.

“These services are provided in a secure environment as the eNaira platform was built using a very secure security protocol”.

On his part, President of the Abuja Chambers of Commerce and industry, (ACCI), Dr. Al- Mujtaba Abubakar, highlighted the importance of the eNaira project, saying: “If fully embraced, there are several benefits attached to it’s for the business community. Some of the benefits include; speedy delivery, safe, simple trading, transactional opportunities to customers and end users”.

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By Abbas Badmus

TECHDIGEST – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has urged Nigerians to come on board the new digital offering, as it has the capacity to increase Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $29 billion over the next 10 years, as earlier declared by President Muhammadu Buhari, while also eliminating failed transactions.

Emefiele stated this in Abuja at an eNaira Merchant Mega event organised by the CBN in collaboration with Arabatech and the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).

Represented by Kingsley Obiora, the Deputy Governor, Economic Policies of the CBN, Emefiele said the event sought to bring together regulators, partners, merchants and other key stakeholders to further deepen the adoption of the eNaira and thereby enhance Nigeria’s quest for economic development that is supported by a world-class payment system infrastructure.

He assured that the apex bank will continue to innovate and upgrade the eNaira platform by partnering with Fintechs and putting in place a robust Help Desk to provide support for merchants and other users towards ensuring seamless adoption of the eNaira.

He noted that merchants such as petrol stations, supermarkets, e-Commerce and other businesses not only have significant roles to play in driving the adoption of the eNaira, but can also leverage the opportunities offered by eNaira to improve cash management and make significant savings in operating cost.

“More specifically, benefits to the merchants include reduced cash handling costs, elimination of failed transactions, instant settlement, increased speed of transactions, improvement in records keeping and elimination of challenges associated with giving change to customers, amongst others.

“The availability of eNaira payment options on e-Commerce merchant platforms such as Remita is expected to complement the existing digital payment system, translating to about a 50% increment in e-commerce transactions and at a lower cost. Also, the implementation of cross-border transactions in phase 3 of the eNaira project is expected to increase cross-border trade by about 30%

“Furthermore, a lower transaction cost is expected to increase the usage (transaction volume and value) of eNaira and improve income generation by businesses. In this vein, I am pleased to inform you that the Bank recently approved a reward scheme for merchants and other users of the eNaira. This reward scheme includes providing merchants with the required promotional (marketing) materials, subsidising the current Merchant Service Charge by 50% and activation of a nationwide sensitization that early business adopters of eNaira can leverage to market its wider adoption.

“It is imperative to note that the eNaira platform can now facilitate payments using QR Codes, USSD, Wallet ID and eNaira Wallet tag. Value-added services on the platform include branch/sub wallets, employee management (i.e., roles and permissions) as well as interoperability with other enterprise applications. These services are provided in a secure environment as the eNaira platform was built using a very secure security protocol” he said.

The President, ACCI, Dr Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, said the event was targeted at merchants, traders, cooperative societies, business associations, supermarkets, hotels, restaurant chains, service providers, private school owners, transporters, Small and Medium Business Enterprises among others, to help them understand the importance of the eNaira.

“This eNaira event comes at a good time to educate the business community on its benefits and importance because despite the high expectations and hype around the CBN digital currency, the eNaira, the business community is yet to embrace it fully. Newspaper research recently revealed that major retailers and vendors in the country are yet to adopt it about 10 months after the launch.

“If fully embraced, there are several benefits attached to it for the business community. Some of the benefits include; speedy delivery, safe, and simple trading and transactional opportunities to customers and end-users,” he said.

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