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IMF Rates eNaira Performance Low

Published

11 months ago

May 22, 2023

The International Monetary Fund has described the public adoption of the eNaira as disappointingly low.

This was contained in a working paper that was released recently by the body and titled ‘Nigeria’s eNaira, One Year After’, where the Bretton Woods institution highlighted how the digital currency fared in its first year.

President Muhammadu Buhari formally unveiled the digital currency at the state house in Abuja on October 25, 2021.

The IMF however said about 98.5 percent of eNaira wallets that were downloaded after the unveiling have been left unused.

While stating that the Central Bank Digital Currency project had yet to move beyond the initial wave of limited adoption, IMF added that the eNaira usage by households and merchants has been slow.

“The retail wallet downloads saw a few weeks of the initial surge before tapering off. More specially, it only took 25 days for the number of downloaded wallets to reach 500,000 units—but going from there to 600,000 units took another 63 days; and to 700,000 units yet another 143 days,” the paper reads.

“As of end-November 2021, the total number of retail eNaira wallets amounted to about 860,000. This is just 0.8 per cent of Nigeria’s active bank accounts.

“Merchant wallet download has reached about 100,000 in end-June, which is about one-eleventh of the number of merchants with Point-of-Sales (POS) terminals—which enables credit or debit card payments.”

The institution further revealed that the downloaded wallets recorded low transactions while some have not been active except for the initial surge it recorded shortly after it was launched.

It added that the average number of eNaira transactions weekly were carried out only by 1.5 percent of downloaded wallets.

“The average number of eNaira transactions since its inception amounts to about 14,000 per week—only 1.5 percent of the number of wallets out there. This means that 98.5 percent of wallets, for any given week, have not been used even once,” the paper further reads.

“The average value of eNaira transactions has been 923 million naira per week—0.0018 percent of the average amount of M3 during this period. The average value per one transaction has been N60,000.”

It added that the eNaira’s potential in financial inclusion requires a “strategy to set the right relationship with mobile money, given the former’s potential to either complement or substitute the latter,” the institution said.

“Cost savings from integrating CBDC—as a bridge vehicle—in the remittance process may also be substantial.”

News

VIDEO: Villagers Give Nigerian Soldiers Heroic Welcome After Successful Operation

Published

4 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Editor

A heartwarming video of some villagers giving a heroic welcome to soldiers returning from a successful operation in the North East has been shared online.

The Nigerian Army shared the video online as the soldiers returning from their military operation were met with cheers and celebrations from local residents recently.

The Army wrote: “Heartwarming welcome accorded to Nigerian Army heroic troops in the Northeast region after a successful operation in Sambisa and Timbuktu Triangle during Operation Desert Sanity III. This video clip captures the genuine and heartfelt welcome extended by the local communities to the valiant troops in appreciation of their successful operation.”

Watch the video below…

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JUST IN: Court Clears Ex-AGF Adoke Of Money Laundering Charges

Published

6 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Editor

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday discharged and acquitted former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) of the money laundering charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, while delivering a ruling on a no-case submission filed by the former AGF, held that the EFCC failed to establish a prima facie (sufficient evidence) case against him.

“I find that there is no evidence to prove the alleged offences against the first defendant (Adoke),” the judge said.

However, Justice Ekwo ruled that Aliyu Abubakar, the second defendant, has to open his defence because he has a case to answer.

EFCC had preferred a 14 counts charge against Adoke and an oil mogul, Aliyu Abubakar.

In the charge, the anti-graft agency alleged that Adoke sometime in August 2013 in Abuja accepted a cash payment of the dollar equivalent of N300 million from Abubakar and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 16(2)(b) of the money laundering Prohibition Act 2011 as amended.

Details later…

News

Police Seal Off Benue APC Factional Secretariat

Published

6 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Editor

Armed policemen have sealed off the secretariat of the All Progressive Congress,APC, in Makurdi, the capital city of Benue State.

The party secretariat belongs to the Austin Agada-led APC Working Committee located along JS Tarka Way opposite the Railway Market in Makurdi.

There are two party secretariats in the capital city.

The other one belongs to Benjamin Omakolo’s team which is located along Kashim Ibrahim Way.

The Publicity Secretary of the Agada faction, Daniel Ihomun, said that the sealing off of their secretariat may not be unconnected with the inauguration of members of the zoning committee for the forthcoming local government election.

“We are to inaugurate members of the zoning committee for the coming local government election today at our secretariat only for the government to send policemen and their thugs to seal off the secretariat,” Ihomun said.

It was learnt that policemen and Armour Personnel Vehicle were deployed to the Agada-led office as early as 6am on Friday.

Efforts to get the reaction of the state Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene, to ascertain the reason for the sealing off of the party secretariat were not successful as her phone rang out at the time of filing this report.

The Agada-led faction had constituted a 21-men zoning committee drawn from the three senatorial districts of the state and was expected to be inaugurated on Friday.

But in a swift response, the Omakolo-led team had in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Terseer Agber, called on all party members and the general public to disregard the zoning committee constituted by the Agada-led committee.