By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun an inclusive campaign for grassroots adoption of its digital currency, eNaira, at the local government areas of the federation.
The bank engaged some commercial drivers in the Federal Capital Territory over the weekend to educate them on how to use the digital currency with a focus on making them ambassadors to drive the adoption campaign to the grassroots.
The apex bank said it was targeting the instalment of a minimum of 10 agent points in Nigeria’s 774 local government areas to help in facilitating the visibility and nationwide adoption of the central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Speaking at an awareness campaign organised for the association of tricycle drivers on Saturday in Abuja, the CBN Coordinator for the Technical Working Committee on eNaira, Mrs Rekiya Mohammed, said the bank was at the park to promote eNaira awareness campaign by intimating commercial drivers of the idea.
She noted that the aim, benefits, and use of the eNaira application for everyday transactions were the central focus, and people at the grassroots level were its intended target across the country.
“We are here to engage the wider community of Keke Napep riders. This is to simplify the application for people to use it and onboard people unto the platform,” Mrs Mohammed, represented by Mr Khalipha Nuhu, an officer in the bank’s information technology department, said.
“From today, we are going to carry out this sensitisation programme through all the nooks and crannies of this country until the eNaira is widely accepted,” she said.
The CBDC, since its launch in October 2021, has attracted just 840,000 users and the CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, recently announced that the apex bank was targeting 8 million users in the “second phase” of the digital currency’s expansion.
He explained that this was coming as transactions on the digital currency platform hit N4 billion.
According to him, “Since the launch of this great initiative, the eNaira has reached 840,000 downloads, with about 270,000 active wallets comprising over 252,000 consumer wallets and 17,000 merchant wallets.
“In addition, volume and value of transactions on the platform have been remarkable, reaching above 200,000 and N4 billion, respectively.”
The eNaira was developed to provide Nigerians with a cheap, safe, and trusted means of payment. Unlike offline payment channels like agent networks, USSD, wearables, cards, and near-field communication technology, the CBN positioned that eNaira would give access to financial services to underserved and unbanked segments of the population.
Modupe Gbadeyanka