e-Naira ‘ll reduce risk of being defrauded – Expert

By Mike Adeyemi

An Ilorin based financial expert, Babatunde Salami has said the proposed e – naira policy of the Federal Government is apt as it will aid to abate illicit financial transactions and reduce fraud.

Salami stated this yesterday, while answering questions from our reporter through telephone calls.

According to him, ‘ the advantages inherent in the newly introduced e-naira policy outweigh its disadvantages as it will allow for non rigour of money supply.’

“I think we need to start from knowing what e-naira is all about. E -naira is more of online like banking that allows you access your account at will.

“It will be beneficial to the people in the remote area as it will afford them to have E- wallet that will enables them to receive and send money in their name,” he said.

Continuing, ‘with e-naira, it means N1 will equate to e – wallet. With 1 million naira ,it means you have 1 million naira to your account.’

“For people in remote area, you are entitled to open an e-wallet account to receive and transfer money. For people who have account with any bank, it is either you go online to transact or you open e-wallet. The maximum that can be there can be determined by you.

“The new policy will reduces the risk individuals are exposed to with their main account. Your risk of been defrauded will be grossly reduced. It is a win – win situation.

“The overall intention of government goes with the fact that the mint in circulation cost trillion to print alongside other logistical expenses. You are not allow to hold cash with e-naira.

“It is more or less no cash in circulation. It will eradicate trillions government incurred in the printing of money. The most important thing along the line is that it will bring down logistic cost,” Salami affirmed.

The financial expert added that if well embraced, the e-naira will penetrate to where there is no bank, as lots of people may be skeptical to register for it.

“It is more or else a parallel banking that you don’t need to pay a visit to the bank. You don’t need to penetrate to where there is bank, but in short run, people would be skeptical to register for it.

“The policy is a good one and it has been in the pipeline since 2002. I think that is the best way to go. E – naira will eliminate fake currency and incessant attacks on banks by armed robbers.

“It will also eliminate transit insurance, cash in volt insurance and cash in premises insurance,” the retired first bank director stressed.

Recall that The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN last week gave further information on its plan to launch the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a project which is set for launch on October 1.

Speaking in a webinar, themed “Digital currency and the prospects of CBDC in Nigeria”, organised by the committee of e-Business in industry Heads Nigeria (CeBIH), the director of Information Technology, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Rukiya Mohammed, said that the use of digital payment was rising while cash payment was declining both in Nigeria and globally.

She said that over 85 per cent of Central Banks worldwide were considering digital currency and so CBN was also innovative to cope with global trends.

“CBDC would contribute to macro-economic growth in the country, if people adopt more of the usage of the e-naira, it would enhance more data to formulate macro economic policies.

“Also, when more countries have their own digital currencies, it would increase exchange of currency and be able to build cross border trade at lower cost.

“Even though Nigeria has a good payment system, this would also improve Nigeria’s payments efficiency,“ she said.

She said the CBN has partnered with a lot of experts in digital currency technology providers such as MasterCard, came up with the design and would soon publish the design.

“CBN would focus on low amount payments at the introductory stage, instant settlement with low cost.”