eNaira to Boost e-Commerce by 50%, Says Emefiele

James Emejo in Abuja
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has urged the trade associations and merchants to take advantage of the numerous benefits provided by the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) also known as eNaira to promote and grow their businesses.

Specifically, Emefiele said the availability of eNaira payment option on e-commerce merchant platform such as Remita will complement the existing digital payment system, translating to about 50 per cent increment in e-commerce transactions and at a lower cost.

Speaking at opening of the ABUJA eNaira Merchants Mega Event over the weekend, which was organised by the apex bank in collaboration with the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Arabatech and PNAIL, the CBN governor noted that for merchants, eNaira would help them 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.

He, however, pointed out that merchants including 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 on the opportunities offered by the digital currency to improve cash management and make significant savings in operating cost.

Represented by Deputy Governor, Economic Policies Department, CBN, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, Emefiele noted that the event was aimed at driving the adoption of the digital currency by merchants and other key stakeholders in the country.
He further assured the participants that the CBN will continue to innovate and upgrade the eNaira platform to serve business and deepen the digital economy in Nigeria.

As a result, he said the bank is already partnering with Fintechs and have also put in place a robust Help Desk to provide support for merchants and other users towards ensuring seamless adoption of the digital money.
In his remarks, President of ACCI, Dr. Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, said the 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 business community is yet to embrace it fully.

He said, “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 embrace, there are several benefits attached to it for the business community. Some of the benefit include speedy delivery, safe, and simple trading and transactional opportunities to customers and end-users.”