The adoption of enaira in Nigeria: the journey so far.

There is generally a very poor acceptance of the CBDC introduced launched last month by the Nigerian government amongst the Nigerian citizens. Many believe that there exists no difference between it's structure and function with the normal online banking app. Critics rather consider it as a subtle means intended to generate income for the government to the detriment of the citizens. The illiterate class on their part have refused to welcome it for fear of fraud and Yahoo guys dealings within the country. All eyes are on the Nigerian government to redefine the functions and structure of the CBDC to suit the demand of the global Cryptocurrency operations and not just an ordinary fiat for online transaction with subtle cost attached.

Nigeria with the introduction of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) has become the first country in Africa to launch its own central bank digital currency. Officially Nigeria has commenced the use of the CBDC dubbed eNaira which was unveiled at State House by President Muhammadu Buhari last month on Monday 25 October.

The CBDC has been designed to increase remittances, foster cross-border trade, improve financial inclusion and enable the government to make welfare payments more easily.

What is the eNaira？

The eNaira is an electronic version of the local paper naira currency, equal in value to it and issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria. It is not intended to replace cash but functions as a safe and efficient alternative means of payment. The eNaira has the same value as the physical naira, its value will rise or fall in relation to the dollar in the same way as the fiat currency. Progress made so far since it's launch.

There has been a very poor acceptance of the CBDC known as eNaira by the Nigerian citizens since it's launch last month caused by lack ofunderstanding of this new digital currency and coupled with the fear of fraudsters especially the activities of the Yahoo boys in the country. Equally there are rumors that playstore have removed the app from its store due to very stringent negative reviews given about the app by the

Nigerian citizens.

At present, only a very few Nigerians have so far identified with the currency who described it as “glorified internet banking, with no difference compared to the usual bank apps.”

The early adopters of the CBDC has further remarked that it is just a normal app that can send and receive money. According critics, the Central Bank is only trying to generate more revenue through the use of the digital banking app and nothing more.

Thus the early adopters have indicated that the app is only free for 90 days after which they would begin to charge for its usage.

Nevertheless, the CBN Governor will be expected to provide further details on the progress of its eNaira digital currency initiative which the central bank successfully launched following the meeting of the committee last week.

Above all, there are figures indicating that the eNaira successfully completed N46.3 million worth of transactions in less than three weeks of its launch. There have been no general condemnation of the eNaira by the global Cryptocurrency regulators Wikbit and Wikifx Which may be a pointer that it is a nice project.