CBN Set To Upgrade eNaira With Bills Payment

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stepped up the campaign on its digital currency, eNaira, even as it said, it will, before the end of this month, introduce payment of bills on the wallets.

Speaking at a sensitisation campaign on the eNaira at the Kairo market in Oshodi Lagos in collaboration with Bizi Mobile, the Lagos Branch Controller at CBN, Mr. Bariboloka Koyor, said the USSD code for the eNaira *997# has been launched to make the onboarding of more Nigerians much easier.

He noted that the eNaira wallets will before the end of this month get an upgrade which will allow for the payment of bills such as cable and electricity bills payment as well as flight bookings via the app.

“Starting from next week, there is going to be an upgrade on the eNaira speed wallet app that will allow you to do transactions such as paying for DSTV or electric bills or even paying for flight tickets. Also the USSD code *997# is out and it is just for more people to be aware of it ab=nd begin to use it.”

On the difference between the enaira and the internet banking services offered by banks, he said: “with the eNiara speed wallet, compared to the internet banking that many are used to it is fast and convenient and there is no charges.

“The enaira is an instrument that will be used in going forward by the government to disburse funds that they want to give to alleviate poverty. So the advantage is for people to onboard early. We decided to come today to sensitize the traders and business men around the market today concerning the eNaira.

“This is a project that the CBN has rolled out nation to reach out to every Nigerian in terms of financial inclusion and in terms of efficiency reliability and safety of banking transactions so that we can do banking transactions very easily an safely and the people in Nigeria can enjoy the benefit of the eNaira.

“It is a new project and the people in the market are excited about the project and accepted it and we are taking the sensitization to every where in the country.

“The e-naira is designed with the best Integrated Security Management procedure that will help to mitigate against fraud, so there won’t be any fraudulent transfers and no fraudulent alert and nobody can deceive you with e-naira transactions because it is foolproof, and we are working on it more and more.

Also to note, it is 100 per cent local and 100 per cent global. It is made in Nigeria and for Nigerians, it can interface with any application and any banking system all over the world, both for individual transactions as well as for corporates transaction.

“The Naira is very fast for transactions and is cheap also for the diaspora remittances. If you want to receive naira ney from abroad, e-naira is there for you, very cheap, direct and it also help government to reach the people too and help you to make local payments.

“For business the e-naira is very good, easy to help you make your sales you can easily make your sells to the e- and get the payments and the issue of receiving money with fake currency or counterfeit money will not be there. Your money is intact.

“For those who have suffered from financial inclusion this is an opportunity for you e-naira is there to include everybody. And what financial inclusion is talking about is the kind of ecosystem that involves buyers, students, sellers, traders, no matter who you are, no matter how much you have, because you don’t need to have millions before you have e-naira wallet as little amount that you have you can open an e-naira wallet, and you can start sending and receiving, so it’s for everyone no matter who you are,” he pointed out.

On his part, the secretary of the Oshodi market traders, Obinna Omeh said, the eNaira will be a relief for traders as it will solve the challenge of unseen alerts, fake alerts and issues of fraud typically seen in the market.