eNaira: CBN mints 500m as 33 banks join platform

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed that since the eNaira platform went live, there has been overwhelming interest and encouraging response from Nigerians and other parties across the world.

Emefiele said 33 banks have been fully integrated and live on the platform while 500 million has been successfully minted by the apex bank.

Of this figure, N200 million has been issued to financial institutions.

Emefiele, who spoke on Monday at the unveiling of eNaira in Abuja, said there are over 2.5 million daily visits to the website since the launch of eNaira.

”Thirty-three banks are fully integrated and live on the platform, 500 million has been successfully minted by the Bank, N200 million has been issued to financial institutions, over 2,000 customers have been onboarded and over 120 merchants have successfully registered on the eNaira platform,” he said.

The CBN governor also used the occasion to commend President Buhari for making history, yet again, with the launch of the eNaira – the first in Africa and one of the earliest around the world.

The CBN Governor explained that eNaira is Nigeria’s CBDC and it is the digital equivalent of the physical Naira.

”As the tagline simply encapsulates, the eNaira is the same Naira with far more possibilities. The eNaira – like the physical Naira – is a legal tender in Nigeria and a liability of the CBN. The eNaira and Naira will have the same value and will always be exchanged at 1 naira to 1 eNaira,” he said.

Emefiele added that the CBN has given careful consideration to the entire payments and financial architecture and has designed the eNaira to complement and strengthen these ecosystems and has implemented secure safeguards and policies to maintain the integrity of the financial system.

He pledged that there would be strict adherence to the anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) standards in order to preserve the integrity and stability of Nigeria’s payment system.