Nigeria's e-Naira Upgraded With New Feature to Enable Use Without Smartphones and Internet

• The CBN has said the e-Naira now has a new feature that allows users to operate without smartphones
• The apex bank is intensifying its campaign on students in promoting e-Naira adoption
• It said the world is learning from Nigeria, being one of the early adopters of digital currency

Nigeria’s digital currency, the e-Naira now includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) feature, a chip-enabled device that allows its use without smartphones or internet access.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the development will allow wallet owners to transact financial businesses seamlessly with the aid of tags attached to their phones.

This means that going forward, users will need little or no human effort as the NFC technology is made up of a short-range high-frequency wireless communication technology that facilitates data exchange between devices of over a 10cm distance.

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This is amid a report which indicated that Nigerians are shunning the CBN’s digital currency for mobile money.

Joseph Angaye, a Deputy Director at the bank, while promoting the e-Naira adoption at the University of Abuja said the apex bank is intensifying the campaign to engage students in the use of the e-Naira, The Nation reports.

e-Naira now world class payment system

Angaye noted that Nigeria’s digital currency has evolved to world-class payment system instrument from when it was inaugurated by former president Muhammadu Buhari almost two years ago.

He also hinted that the CBN has achieved some milestone - being one of the early adopters - in terms of improving the functionality of the e-Naira and the world is learning from Nigeria.

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He said:

We have been very gracious in sharing our experiences, every day we are hosting people from the world bank, IMF and our sister central banks from across the world. They are coming to learn from our experiences.

Angaye said the CBN plans to make the e-Naira the preferred revenue collection means in tertiary institutions across the country.

According to him, this will help to reduce leakages in terms of revenue collection and ensure seamless process with regards to accounting function reconciliation.

CBN speaks on relationship between enaira and bank

Legit.ng earlier reported that the CBN said the enaira was not introduced to compete with Deposit Money Banks.

Angaye, at the University of Abuja said enaira’s benefit does not include replacing the existing payment system infrastructure.

He highlighted some of the importance to include; deepening the financial and payment systems, addressing challenges in the payment system infrastructure and complementing what is already on the ground.

Source: Legit.ng