The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has initiated a partnership with the University of Abuja to promote the adoption of the eNaira within tertiary institutions across the country. This collaboration aims to encourage the use of the eNaira as a digital currency within the university.
As part of the plan, the CBN intends to work closely with third-party agents of the eNaira to launch a campaign that promotes its utilization specifically at the University of Abuja. Mr. Joseph Angaye, a Deputy Director at the CBN, stated that discussions are ongoing with various universities throughout Nigeria.
The CBN team has already engaged with universities across all the geopolitical zones of the country, emphasizing the benefits of the eNaira and seeking partnerships to facilitate its adoption for financial transactions, particularly for revenue collection and payments.
By partnering with the University of Abuja, the CBN aims to demonstrate the advantages of digital currencies and encourage students, staff, and the wider academic community to embrace the eNaira as a secure and efficient means of conducting financial transactions.
This collaboration not only showcases the CBN’s commitment to digital transformation but also highlights the potential for the eNaira to revolutionize the way financial transactions are carried out within educational institutions and beyond.
As discussions continue and partnerships are formed, the CBN remains focused on expanding the adoption of the eNaira nationwide, driving financial inclusion, and promoting a cashless economy in Nigeria.
“I won’t say we are late in coming here, maybe we have probably saved the best for the last, eNaira has really evolved from the inauguration of the eNaira by the former president almost two years ago”.
“We’ve achieved a number of milestones and there has been further development in terms of improving the functionality based on Feedback input we have been getting from various stakeholders we are coming here with a lot of experience in implementing it and as you know central bank digital currency is a new concept globally and Nigeria is one of the early adopters of central bank digital currency, and our own as you recall is called the eNaira, so the eNaira is central bank’s digital currency of Nigeria, he said.
The Director explained that the eNaira will not replace the naira or the existing payment structure on ground saying it was introduced to deepen the payment system, “to address some challenges we saw in the payment system infrastructure and to complement what we already have.”
Angaye said the e-naira was not introduced to be a competitor to what the banks are doing or other service providers but to provide a platform they can leverage to provide more effective service.
“I am sure some of us have been experiencing some challenges from time to time using the payment system, but eNaira will help to promote financial inclusion and reduce congestion in the infrastructure so we are not brought down by downtime registering the number of interfaces that it takes to initiate and complete transaction and giving an opportunity to provide additional services that are not even available in the Nigeria system, like facilitating payment even when there’s no network,” he said.
He added that the said e-Naira will reduce leakages when it comes to the collection and will reduce stress when it comes to issues of reconciliation of your accounting function.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor of Uniabuja, Prof. Aisha Sani Maikudi, who represented the Vice Chancellor, assured that the university is ready to partner with the CBN to educate Nigerians.
She stressed that the University has a robust virtual learning program that can help deliver mojo and can also help develop content education in ways that can improve the knowledge and confidence of Nigerians in the eNaira.
