The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a calendar of events to reflect on and mark the first anniversary of the introduction of the eNaira, the first digital currency by any Central Bank in Africa.
The digital currency, eNaira was unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, 25 October 2021.
according to a statement by CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications. Osita Nwanisobi, Nigeria has gained international attention as one of the first countries to deploy a central bank digital currency into live production as a result of the adoption of the eNaira.
The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, other central banks, and the United Nations observed that it had continued to catch the attention of international stakeholders like Central Bank Digital Currency community.
The CBN announced that, as part of the events to commemorate the first anniversary of the eNaira, it would host a one-day workshop on Tuesday in Lagos with the topic “Leveraging Innovation for Inclusive Growth and Development: The eNaira Advantage”.
It said that the workshop’s goals were to “review the eNaira implementation path, one year later; to encourage greater eNaira adoption through public involvement; and to facilitate global policy debate on the CBDC to enhance peer learning and benchmarking”.
CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele will host the event, and the Ministries of Communication and Digital Economy; and that of Humanitarian Affairs will make presentations.
The heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Information Technology Development Agency, members of the Bankers’ Committee, academic institutions, financial services and telecommunications regulators, businesspeople, agents, cooperative groups, and technical experts, as well as representatives from the entertainment industry, are among the other notable participants expected at the event.
The event will also include a panel discussion on “eNaira Adoption for Economic Growth” and a policy round-table discussion on “Effective Collaboration for National Development (Infrastructure, Interoperability, Regulation).
“The CBN, therefore, encourages Nigerians to be part of the celebration which shall be streamed live on the bank’s social media channels as well as those dedicated to the eNaira,” Nwanisobi further said.
