The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will launch the eNaira, its digital currency, in a couple of days from now.
This was disclosed by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele made this known at a news conference on Thursday, October 7, 2021. He stated that the launch of the eNaira would make Nigeria one of the first countries in Africa, and indeed the globe, to adopt the digitization of its national currency.
Emefiele had earlier stated that the eNaira would operate as a wallet against which customers could hold existing funds in their bank accounts. Further, he had disclosed that this would accelerate financial inclusion and enable cheaper and faster remittance inflows.
Sunrise News gathered that the storm are now fully cleared over the planned roll out, which had earlier been stalled on October 1, 2021 by a court case.
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The suspension came as a result of a court injunction over the implementation of the digital currency. However, a Federal High Court has now given the all-clear for the launch of the digital currency.
Equally important, the CBN had received a cease and desist notice over the use of the name “eNaira”. The notice came barely a couple of days before the launch of the digital currency; throwing a spanner in the works. The notice titled “Infringement of Trademark and Violation of Corporate Name Cease and Desist Notification to the Central Bank of Nigeria” was signed by Olakunle Agbebi Esq for Olakunle Agbebi & Co.
Specifically, the plaintiffs held that the name – “Enaira payment Solution Limited” had been incorporated since April 7, 2004.
Nevertheless, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had quashed the notice; ruling that the CBN can proceed with the implementation of the eNaira. The court, presided over by Justice Taiwo Abayomi Taiwo; gave the ruling in the light of the importance of the Central Bank Digital Currency [CBDC]. The ruling came as the defendants’ counsel urged the court to dismiss the plaintiff’s motion to halt the launch.
Although the court was reluctant in dismissing the motion; it held that the unveiling of eNaira may proceed on national interest and that the plaintiff will be adequately compensated.