Nigeria's eNaira: Africa's first digital currency
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2021
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Central Banks around the world are introducing digital currencies and last month Nigeria became the first African country to launch one - the eNaira. But what is a digital currency and how are Nigerians reacting to theirs? We hear from people on the streets of Abuja. Tamasin Ford speaks to Rakiya Mohammed, director of information security at the Central Bank of Nigeria. Chinwe Egwim, chief economist at Coronation Merchant Bank in Lagos, explains why the eNaira has been introduced and the benefits it could have. Digital currency expert Josh Lipsky of the Atlantic Council puts the launch of the eNaira in the context of the others that are springing up all over the globe.
Producer: Benjie Guy.
(Picture: the eNaira mobile phone app. Credit: enaira.gov.ng)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Tamasin Ford. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. First, it was cryptocurrencies. Now it's |
| 0:09.4 | central bank digital currencies. We study central bank digital currencies. Two years ago when we started, |
| 0:15.7 | they're about 35 central banks interested and now there are 90 that we're tracking. So you see the rapid acceleration |
| 0:22.9 | and adoption and interest. Last month, Nigeria became the largest economy in the world to fully |
| 0:28.9 | launch a central bank digital currency, the E-Naira. Look at what happened during the pandemic. |
| 0:35.5 | It was extremely difficult for them to go out, to earn a living |
| 0:39.4 | because I was total lockdown at a point in time. |
| 0:42.5 | So this is where the inner era could also help. |
| 0:44.9 | But what do Nigerians make of it? |
| 0:47.0 | And how is it working so far? |
| 0:48.9 | We find out in Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 1:10.0 | North, South, East or West, male or female, old school or millennial, rural or urban, |
| 1:17.0 | the Naira is the same, and so is the E Naira. So let's embrace it. |
| 1:26.0 | E Naira, same Naira, more possibilities. That's the official advert for Nigeria's E Naira. |
| 1:29.1 | But before we get into how it's been going since the launch, |
| 1:36.0 | let's take a look at how digital currencies work. So, digital currencies are similar to cryptocurrencies in many ways. They're virtual. You never actually get your hands on physical money, |
| 1:42.3 | and often they both rely on blockchain technology. |
| 1:46.8 | But where they differ is that a digital currency is issued by the central bank. It's a digital |
| 1:52.7 | version of that country's currency. So when it comes to the E-Naira, one virtual Naira is the same |
| 1:59.6 | as one physical Naira. Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and |
| 2:04.4 | Ethereum, are privately issued. They can fluctuate in value, making them far riskier, and |
| 2:11.0 | they're unregulated. Nigeria launched the E Naira last month. Rak Mohamed, the Director of Information and Technology at the Central Bank, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

