Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed on Wednesday that Nigeria’s Fintech firms attracted about $550 million in investments in the past five years.
Emefiele attributed this success story to the confidence the investing community has in Nigeria’s payment system.
Speaking at the 31st Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors, in Enugu, the governor, represented by Mr. Edward Lamekek Adamu, CBN’s deputy governor, corporate services, said that a new launch date for the proposed e-Naira will be disclosed in a few days.
According to Emefiele: “A country with one of the largest millennial population in the world- (an estimated 62% of the Nigerian population below 25 years of age), fast smartphone growth driven by increasing affordability, increasing mobile penetration and fast transition to 5G technology, Nigeria remains primed to be an active playground for digital transformation and cannot afford to ignore the Fintech challenge.”
He noted that “improving access to finance for individuals and businesses through digital channels can help to improve financial inclusion, lower the cost of transactions, and increase the flow of credit to businesses.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria, he said, “decided to introduce a central bank digital currency, the eNaira, which would help in attaining our goals of fostering greater inclusion using digital channels.”
Other reasons for introducing the eNaira he added, are to “support cross border payments for businesses and firms, and providing a reliable channel for remittances inflows into the country.”
