CBN Says eNaira Would Be Free For 90 Days, 33 Banks Already On The Platform

Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that 33 Nigerian banks have joined the eNaira platform, with the apex bank minting N500 million in digital money.

The apex bank’s governor also mentioned that for the next 90 days, the eNaira will stay free of charges as it has already gotten the attention of a lot of users.

Emefiele said this at a ceremony at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday to unveil Nigeria’s Central Bank Digital Currency.

What the CBN Governor is saying

Emefiele said, ”33 banks are fully integrated and are live on the platform. 500 million has been successfully minted by the Bank, N200 million has been issued to financial institutions, over 2,000 customers have been onboarded and over 120 merchants have successfully registered on the eNaira platform.”

The CBN Governor further stated that the eNaira and the physical Naira are both legal tender with the same value and will be accepted throughout Nigeria.

”As the tagline simply encapsulates, the eNaira is the same naira with far more possibilities. The eNaira, like the physical naira, is a legal tender in Nigeria and a liability of the CBN. The eNaira and naira will have the same value and will always be exchanged at 1 naira to 1 eNaira,” he said.

Since the eNaira platform went live, the website has received over 2.5 million daily visits, according to Emefiele, who also promised that the platform will continue to grow. He said, “there would be strict adherence to the Anti-money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism standards in order to preserve the integrity and stability of Nigeria’s payment system.”

The CBN also said, “The charges for transactions that originate from the eNaira platform shall be free for the first 90 days commencing from October 25, 2021, and then revert to applicable charges as outlined in the Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial and Non-bank Financial Institutions.”

The apex bank disclosed this in the framework titled, ‘eNaira Circular and Guidelines’ released on Monday.’