The Federal Government may soon begin paying workers’ salaries, pensions and social welfare benefits through the eNaira platform.
This is part of a new plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to expand the use of the country’s digital currency.
The proposal is contained in the Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028, a new roadmap released by the apex bank to strengthen digital payments and increase the role of the eNaira in everyday financial transactions.
The eNaira was introduced in October 2021 as Africa’s first central bank digital currency.
It was created to improve financial inclusion, lower transaction costs, support cashless payments and make money transfers easier.
Despite these goals, the platform has struggled to gain wide acceptance among Nigerians over the years.
According to the new roadmap, the CBN plans to move the eNaira beyond its pilot stage and make it a major payment channel for both government and private-sector transactions.
The bank said it intends to review the current framework guiding the digital currency to ensure it meets present-day market demands and operational needs.
Under the proposal, government payments to citizens, salary processing, offline transactions and support for small businesses have been identified as major areas where the eNaira could be used.
This means public-sector salaries, pensions, conditional cash transfers and other government disbursements could eventually be paid through the platform.
The CBN also noted that the digital currency has features that allow money to be programmed for specific purposes.
Such features could make it possible to place spending deadlines on funds, restrict payments to approved uses, divide payments automatically and create separate digital wallets for different needs.
The bank believes these capabilities could improve payment efficiency while supporting faster and cheaper transactions.
It also stated that the eNaira could play a bigger role in financial markets by supporting settlement systems, banking operations and digital versions of financial assets such as bonds and securities.
