e-Naira:CBN Blames Postponement On Technical Hitches

By Fola James

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has postponed the launch of its digital currency, e-Naira. The CBDC was scheduled to take off today, October 1.

But in a statement by the apex bank’s Director of Communications, Osita Nwanisobi, the government bank said it could not proceed with the launch due to some technical hitches.

The Godwin Emefiele-led bank has yet to announce a new date for the take off.

Earlier in the week, the Director, Information and Technology, CBN, Rakitya Muhammed, had said that the introduction of the e-naira will catalyse Nigeria’s digital economy, boost cross border trade and enable better macroeconomic policy formulation.

Rakiya Muhammed, CBN Director, Information and Technology, who spoke at the Third Quarter Industry Forum of the Committee of E-business Industry Heads in   Abuja on Wednesday said by accepting e-Naira Nigerians are assisting the federal government to formulate good policies.

According to Mohammed “If people adopt more of the usage of the e-naira, then we will be able to have more data to formulate better macroeconomic policies.

“And when countries come on board and create their own digital currencies then we will be able to have faster exchange of currencies and therefore we might be able to boost cross border trade at a much lower cost.

“Of course payment efficiency, even though we know that Nigeria has one of the best payment systems in the world, we will still be able to improve on that.

“We believe that the e-naira will be a catalyst for digital economy because the people who are outside the formal banking sector will be integrated.”