The Nigeria’s CBDC eNaira is reportedly moving forward to the second stage of its expansion, with new tech to amplify its user base, revealed by Nigerian Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele. 

Specifically, the details were revealed by Emefiele during his speech at the 2022 eNaira Hackathon in Abuja. The eNaira, Africa’s pioneering CBDC, was reportedly introduced in October last year.

“The eNaira is a journey, not a one-time event. We don’t have a choice but to live with the fact that we are now in a digital economy, in a digital space, where the user[s] of cash will dissipate almost to zero.”

Per Emefiele, the second stage of the initiative has reportedly commenced with a primary target of amplifying financial inclusion, via reeling in the unbanked and underserved users, with a specific target figure of approximately 8 million active users. 

The CBDC reportedly witnessed roughly 840,000 downloads, with around 270,000 active wallets, including 252,000 consumer wallets. There have been about 200,000 transactions equivalent to 4 billion nairas (about $9.5 million at the official exchange rate).

The central bank is reportedly looking to finalize the incorporation of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) “by next week,” Emefiele revealed, to make it possible for users to form eNaira wallets via entering a four-digit code on their mobile telephones, regardless of the availability of their bank accounts. 

After that, users with bank accounts will have the ability to use the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIPS) instant payment solution to make transfers between bank accounts. The eNaira already has apps allowing the user to pay for utilities and a number of other services.

Furthermore, the eNaira Hackathon platform will be layered onto the eNaira platform to offer an increase in functionality, Daniel Awe, head of the Africa Fintech Foundry, revealed. That organization and the central bank are cosponsors of the hackathon, which was entered by 4,667 startups. Out of those, ten received prizes, ranging from 1 million to 5 million nairas.