CeBIH, Others Urge Nigerians to Adopt CBN’s e-Naira Initiative

Sunday Okobi

The Committee of e-business Industry Heads (CeBIH) has lauded the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) e-naira initiative, urging Nigerians to adopt the e-naira when it’s rolled out by the CBN in October this year.

CeBIH noted that the e-naira would facilitate faster and cheaper payment transactions and drive financial inclusion in Nigeria.

According to a statement issued by the group, the CeBIH Chairman, Adeyemi Atanda, stated this at the third-quarter industry forum of (CeBIH) with the theme: ‘Digital currency and the prospects of central bank digital currency in Nigeria’, held in Abuja yesterday.

He explained that there must be an attraction for people to keep money in naira, but the e-naira has no attraction.

Atanda, however, said it can be compensated with the fact that transactions are done using e-naira come at near-zero cost, which can help the end-user save some money.

He said: “When you hear e-naira, think transactional not investments. That is where a lot of people are mixing it up. You can’t compare it with crypto. Crypto is not primarily transactional, it is primarily investments. The e-naira is primarily transactional.”

The group boss assured Nigerians that the CBN and banking sector are well equipped to manage fraud and other cyber security challenges that can arise from the adoption of the e-naira.

Atanda said: “We have been very innovative in trying to guard against fraud as much as possible. All of those gains we have learnt in digital banking for managing fraud, things like second factor or multi-factor authentication, encryption, and other innovations will still apply in this case.”

The chairman stressed that the e-naira, however, has more benefits than negatives, arguing that the platform can bring a lot of cash circulating outside the banking sector, which is about 85 percent, into the financial sector.

On the downside, Atanda said there are fears that banks will lose some of the liabilities (deposits).

According to him, “The liabilities that we sit on today will be moved from naira where we can use it easily to digital currency, so we lose liability, but, again, it is a function of how creative we get as bankers.”

Also speaking at the event, Director, Information and Technology, CBN, Rakiya Mohammed, said the introduction of the e-naira can catalyze Nigeria’s digital economy, boost cross-border trade and enable better macroeconomic policy formulation.

She further said that macroeconomic policies would be better formulated due to digitisation.
Speaking on the e-naira design, Muhammed disclosed that the design would soon be revealed as the apex bank has concluded its development.

The e-naira, she noted, will be a legal tender like the fiat naira, adding that it will not replace but complement the naira and anonymity of transactions is guaranteed.

Experts from the Blockchain industry present at the event noted, however, that the move may not deepen financial inclusion as hoped despite offering the advantage of cheaper and more efficient financial transactions.

The Coordinator, blockchain Nigeria User Group, Chimezie Chuta, stressed that the e-naira would not solve the problem of financial inclusion in the country.

Chuta said: “I don’t think it will drive financial inclusion, it won’t drive that. You need to have money, a source of income to have a bank account. An average Nigerian will not buy into e-Naira because of banking services.”

According to him, CBN introduced the digital currency to address the encroachment of private e-currencies but said the solution is weak as the e-Naira does not address the key drivers of private e-currencies.

Chuta, however, said the e-naira would save the huge cost on printing, management, and distribution of the naira.