CBN urges Nigerian universities to adopt the eNaira

By: Mark Jessy

April 24, 2023 8:00 AM

A delegation from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Zenith Bank, a Nigerian commercial bank, visited the University of Ilorin to promote the use of the eNaira — the country's CBDC — among the university's administration, faculty, and students.

The team arranged a two-day meeting with university officials in order to persuade them to use the eNaira.

According to a Vanguard article→, the delegation's leader, Adeolu Fadele, the CBN's eNaira project manager, said the committee was working on making government disbursements and salaries receivable via the eNaira platform.

This is especially important because the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has long been at odds→ with the Federal Government of Nigeria over the usage of the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) as a salary payment platform.

The IPPIS→ is an apparatus of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) in charge of paying government employees' salaries once the proper third-party deductions (tax, health insurance, housing, pension, and so on) have been made.

Since the implementation of the IPPIS platform, university employees have complained about a variety of concerns→, including over-taxation and, in some cases, non-payment of salaries. ASUU, in particular, has frequently rejected the IPPIS's continued usage.

According to eNaira Project Manager Fadele, the team has been working with the AGF to examine the Treasury Single Account and work on making payments available through the eNaira platform.

He did not, however, provide a timetable for when the plan to use the eNaira as a payment mechanism for Nigerian university staff salary would be implemented.

Professor Wahab Egbewole (SAN), the university's Vice Chancellor, asked the team to concentrate on making the eNaira available to Nigerians living outside the country since this could promote easier international transactions.

Furthermore, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Abayomi Omotesho stated that the institution would explore adopting the platform if it could assist ease payments at the university, enhance financial inclusion, and provide a source of revenue for students.

He went on to say that once the wage disbursement issue was resolved and they no longer had to deal with the IPPIS, other Nigerian colleges would immediately embrace the platform.

The eNaira→, which debuted in 2021, saw slow adoption in its early days. According to the International Monetary Fund, there will be less than one million wallets by November 2022.

However, in recent years, there has been a spike in the use of eNaira. According to the CBN, transaction volume grew by 63%, with 3.4 billion of the previously minted 10 billion eNaira in circulation.

Furthermore, since October 2022, 13 million wallets have been generated. The CBN's naira redesign and cashless policy, which saw a significant fall in the amount of hard cash in circulation, may have contributed to the surge in eNaira usage.

Although CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele blamed the expansion of business on the federal government's welfare program for low-income Nigerians, some experts have cast doubt on this explanation.