Economist praises CBN’s introduction of eNaira

An Economist, Mr Tope Fasua, has commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for its digital currency (eNaira) initiative, which is set to become operational on Oct. 1.
Fasua, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Analytics Consulting Limited, gave the commendation on Tuesday on Abuja.
CBN had announced plans to float its own, controlled digital currency after announcing a ban on cryptocurrency transactions in February.
Mr Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, had explained that cryptocurrencies pose the risk of loss of investments, money laundering, terrorism financing, illicit fund flows and other criminal activities.
The apex bank, in a new website designed for the digital currency, described eNaira as a CBN-issued digital currency that provides a unique form of money denominated in Naira.
It stated that eNaira would serve as both a medium of exchange and a store of value, offering better payment prospects in retail transactions when compared to cash payments.
“eNaira has an exclusive operational structure that is both remarkable and nothing like other forms of central bank money,” CBN noted.
Fasua said that the idea of e-Naira was commendable because all currencies would eventually become digital over time, and the Naira should not be left behind.
He added that, by creating the digital Naira, the apex bank was ensuring that it was not rendered irrelevant in the foreseeable future.
“In actual fact, the Naira is already digital as it is because, you can send t money through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) or through electronic transfer without the need to touch cash.
“But with the e-Naira, digitalisation is going to higher level, where we will increase focus on electronic financial transactions, which will come with its own type of innovations and improvements.
“But only those who get on board will benefit from the advantages of the digital currency,’’ he said.
According to the economist, electronic currencies, like the eNaira, allows central banks to print and manage less physical currencies, thereby saving huge revenue.
“It will benefit the Nigerian economy by saving huge cost of managing physical cash, and including more Nigerian in the financial sector.
“It will promote financial inclusion, as those who do not have bank accounts can easily key into the e-Naira.
“It will also, eventually, help in tracking money laundering and fraud because it is all about documentation of what people are doing.
“The data that will be generated will enable authorities do their work better in preventing money laundering and fraud,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the CBN, on Monday, launched a dedicated website, enaira.com, for the digital currency project.
Findings show that the website recorded over one million hits a few hours after it was launched.