The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced a calendar of events to reflect on and mark the one anniversary of the introduction of the eNaira, the first Central Bank Digital Currency in Africa.
This information was provided in a statement titled “CBN honors 1 anniversary of eNaira” by Osita Nwanisobi, Director of Corporate Communications. He mentioned that on October 25, 2021, President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) officially unveiled the eNaira.
According to the statement, 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 CBDC community.
The CBN announced that as part of the events planned 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.”
The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, will host the event, and the ministries of communication, the digital economy, and humanitarian affairs will speak.
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 attendees at the event.
The event would 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,” the CBN stated.
