By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the introduction of the eNaira, the digital form of the Nigerian legal tender, Naira, last year has made many countries of the world want to do a similar thing.
On Monday, October 25, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari formally the eNaira in Abuja. The app was made available on Google Play Store but was later dropped after a series of complaints from users. After the issues were resolved, it was restored.
The apex bank, in a statement to unveil activities to mark the first anniversary of the digital currency, which was created under the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), said some countries have had to understudy the system to herald theirs.
The central bank said it was satisfied with the success story of the eNaira, noting that this was why it was rolling out drums to celebrate the anniversary.
“The implementation of the eNaira has put Nigeria in the global spotlight as one of the pioneers to deploy a CBDC into live production. This has continued to attract the interest of global stakeholders such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, other central banks, and the CBDC community,” a part of the statement said.
On Tuesday, October 25, 2022, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, will host a one-day workshop themed Leveraging Innovation for Inclusive Growth and Development: The eNaira Advantage at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Mr Ali Pantami; and his Humanitarian Affairs counterpart, Mrs Sadiya Umar Farouq; will be speakers at the event.
Other key participants include the chief executives of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
Others are members of the Bankers’ Committee, the academia, financial services and telecommunications regulators, merchants, agents, cooperative groups and technical experts, and the entertainment industry, amongst others.
The event will also feature a policy round-table discussion on Effective Collaboration for National Development (Infrastructure, Interoperability, regulation) and a panel discussion on eNaira Adoption for Economic Growth.
The CBN said the aim of the seminar is to review the eNaira implementation journey one year after, drive further adoption of the eNaira through public engagement, and facilitate global policy dialogue on CBDC to promote peer learning and benchmarking.
The bank urged members of the public to be part of the celebration to be streamed live on its social media channels.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka