Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has said that the apex bank has commenced minting about N500 million in digital money, with 33 Nigerian banks joining the e-Naira platform.
The apex bank’s governor also mentioned that for the next 90 days, the e-Naira would 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.
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Emefiele said, ”33 banks are fully integrated and are live on the platform. The Bank has successfully minted five hundred million, N200 million has been issued to financial institutions, over 2,000 customers have been onboarded, and over 120 merchants have successfully registered on the e-Naira platform.”
The CBN Governor further stated that the e-Naira and the physical Naira are legal tender with the same value and will be accepted throughout Nigeria.
”As the tagline 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. He said that the e-Naira and Naira will have the same value and will always be exchanged at 1 naira to 1 eNaira,” he said.
Since the e-Naira platform went live, the website has received over 2.5 million daily visits, according to Emefiele, who also promised that the platform would continue to grow. He said, “there would be strict adherence to the Anti-money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism standards 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 ‘eNaira Circular and Guidelines’ framework released on Monday.’
Culled from [Nairametrics]
