The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has encouraged Nigerians to embrace e-naira, the nation’s digital currency.
The Director of Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, made this call at the CBN special day at the ongoing Lagos International Trade Fair on Thursday.
Highlighting the benefits of the digital currency, he said, “The e-Naira is expected to deepen financial inclusion by bringing more people into the financial space, support a resilient payment ecosystem, reduce the cost of processing cash, enable direct and transparent welfare intervention to citizens, increase transparency in revenue and tax collections, facilitate diaspora remittances, reduce the cost of financial transactions and improve the efficiency of payments.”
Noting that there have been encouraging responses to the launch of the e-Naira, Osita, said, “Today, customers who download the eNaira Speed Wallet App will be able to create their wallet; fund their eNaira wallet from their bank account; transfer eNaira from their wallet to another wallet and make payment for purchases at registered merchant locations.
“I, therefore, appeal to Nigerians to embrace the eNaira just like our physical Naira – our pride.”
Osita continued: “Furthermore, the CBN has provided policy and financing support for businesses especially the MSMEs through our development finance initiatives because we believe that the continued provision of access to finance to various sectors of the economy will promote inclusive growth and sustainable development.
“For the records, these initiatives include the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS); the MSME Development Fund; the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP); and the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP).”
In collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, we also established the Agri-business/Small & Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) and the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) to provide access to finance for youth in the fashion, music, information technology, and movie production verticals.
“While collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to fund the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), we also recently unveiled the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES), aimed at harnessing the potential of graduate entrepreneurs from Nigerian polytechnics and universities.
“As part of our response to the disruptions triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the CBN introduced a bouquet of interventions such as the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF), as a stimulus package to support households and MSMEs affected by the pandemic
