The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has mandated all its staff to open e-Naira wallets, noting that their allowances will be paid into the wallet while basic salaries will go into their regular accounts.
The e-Naira is a digital currency developed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The e-Naira has the same value as the paper or physical naira.
According to an insider source, the new development is to further drive the adoption of digital transactions amid the cashless policy of the Central Bank.
However, it would be recalled that the cashless policy has led to naira scarcity across the country, leading to a pocket of violent protests in some states which include Delta, Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, and Edo.
Meanwhile, the apex bank has stated that it will push out the old N200 notes that were initially deposited as banknotes to be phased out.
A senior member of the bank disclosed that “by today, (Monday) there should be enough of the old N200 notes combined with the new ones to flood the banking system with enough cash to meet the genuine cash needs of normal people and small enterprises”.
The insider source who prefers to be anonymous noted that Nigerians will start to feel relieved from naira scarcity in a matter of days.
When asked how much of the N200 denomination has so far been printed by the CBN to meet this demand, the CBN official who spoke to the Nations Newspaper said he does “not have information on the quantum of new N200 notes printed. One thing I am sure of is that the CBN will put into circulation the quantum of new naira notes it judges to be optimal”.
