Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), stated on Monday that over 1.4 million transactions have passed through the entire platform since its establishment.
Emefiele made the remarks at the 34th Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors, which is currently taking place in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State.
“Implementing a Robust Payment Architecture: Prospects, Opportunities, and Challenges” is the seminar’s theme.
He also stated that, with a total membership of 57,431,355 as of March 31, 2023, the BVN is helping the building of credit profiles for banking customers, which will aid banks in increasing credit access for credit-worthy borrowers.
Emefiele, who was represented by Dr. Mahmud Hassan, Director of the Monetary Policy Department, maintained that the COVID-19 pandemic triggered rapid advancements in financial technology, resulting in rapid digitization of money and finance, with the CBN seizing the opportunity to launch the eNaira in October 2021.
According to Emefiele, eNaira was created to broaden Nigerians’ payment options, foster digital financial inclusion, and have the potential to accelerate inter-governmental and social transfers, and the CBN has continued to modify its features to make it more accessible to a wide range of users since its launch.
Emefiele said that the CBN will ensure that the data exchange is carried out in a manner that protects the privacy and concerns of the consumers who own the data in the first place.
He went on to say that entrepreneurs with creative concepts are encouraged to apply to the sandbox.
In terms of cardless and other contactless payment choices, Emefiele stated that the market is rapidly developing toward cardless and other contactless payment options such as QR codes, NFC, and so on.
In this regard, he stated that the bank has imposed stringent restrictions to standardize contactless payment operations in Nigeria.
