By Adetunji Ayobrown
Promised to increase Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, by $29 billion over the next 10 years, e-naira has been described as a major plus for every Nigerian financial inclusion.
That many concerns on issues of the past failed banks would be adequately addressed by the CBN which has little or no chance of failure, would restore customer’s trust in the country’s financial system.
Chief Operating Officer, FINTECH Association of Nigeria, Babatunde Obrimah, said these and many more while discussing Nigeria’s digital currency relative to its economy during a live television programme.
He said, “there is nothing to fear really because, in terms of safety, this has one of most secured features, with safety and security excellence, where any money lost can be retrieved and many more”.
“Talking about the block-chain technology which is centralised where the public can see what is happening to anybody’s account which I think is a plus for the e-naira.
It’s universal and anybody can hold it and can be used for remittance, which includes a cheaper diaspora remittance option which is traceable so fraudulent activities can be traced, this new electronic payment can be likened to the best available in the common world.
E-naira which can be used for any international and local trades, with a unique identity and security structure which is exchanged peer to peer would help all in the financial inclusion of every Nigerian citizen, while managing the infrastructure issues related to mode of payment systems.
Babatunde said that “concerns and issues of the past about failed banks where many customers had lost their life savings would be addressed once and for all, as the CBN would now be their banker which has little or no chance of failure”.
That the Nigeria economy and its financial system would be better off if there is a lot of money in the system. The new digital currency was flagged off with over N500m of the currency minted. There are many benefits and prospects of the nation’s new digital currency, and the issues the application had at launch, withdrawal and relaunch was normal.
He said, “though it is a good initiative, but lots of public awareness is needed on the part of the CBN to ensure that more Nigerians accept the payment channel available in the common world”
E-naira is held and managed on a distributed ledger, with no yield of any interest, its payments are made by scanning QR codes, while e-wallet activities can be monitored.
