Federal Government is considering a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) proposal to commence paying civil servants’ salaries, pensions, social welfare benefits, in addition contractors via the eNaira platform in order to boost the adoption of Nigeria’s digital currency.

The eNaira is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a legal tender.

This is according to a recommendation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as contained in its ‘Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028,’ a strategic roadmap designed to transform the eNaira from an experimental initiative into a mainstream payment channel for both public and private sector transactions.

The digital currency was hailed as the fifth digital currency to be launched in the world and the first in Africa.

The eNaira is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) issued by the CBN as a legal tender.

Under the new proposed framework, the CBN disclosed plans to review the existing CBDC structure and align it more closely with market realities and emerging operational demands.

The regulatory bank stated that the eNaira would be repositioned as a core payment infrastructure, with government-to-person payments, salary disbursements, offline transactions and support for small businesses identified as priority use cases.

According to the proposal, public sector payments such as salaries, pensions, conditional cash transfers and other welfare programmes could be processed through the digital currency platform to enhance efficiency and drive wider acceptance.

The document also highlighted the advanced capabilities of the eNaira, noting that its programmable features could enable spending limits, purpose-specific transactions, payment splitting and the creation of sub-wallets.

According to the CBN, these functionalities could improve transparency and accountability in financial transactions while expanding the usefulness of the digital currency across different sectors of the economy.

The bank further stated that the eNaira could strengthen Nigeria’s financial market infrastructure by supporting settlement systems, tokenised assets, bonds and securities, while making transactions faster and more cost-effective.

CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, in the Foreword of the document, said the Payments System Vision 2028 was designed to reinforce Nigeria’s position as a leading digital payments market through improved efficiency, resilience and financial inclusion.

He noted that the strategy would focus on modernising payment infrastructure, strengthening regulatory oversight, accelerating digital financial services and deepening collaboration among stakeholders in the financial ecosystem.

Despite recording millions of wallet registrations and transactions valued at about N22 billion since its October 2021 launch, the CBN acknowledged that the eNaira has yet to gain widespread acceptance in everyday commercial activities.

The bank attributed the challenge to limited merchant adoption, weak integration with banking and fintech platforms, and the absence of operational cross-border CBDC payment corridors.

To address these concerns, the bank plans to deepen the use of the eNaira for government payments, remittances and trade settlements, while opening its application programming interfaces to fintech firms for improved integration.

The document also revealed plans to launch bilateral CBDC pilot projects with key trade and remittance partners to facilitate seamless cross-border transactions.

Launched by the former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on October 25, 2021, during the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the eNaira was dubbed Africa’s first Central Bank Digital Currency.

The eNaira was introduced to promote financial inclusion, lower transaction costs and support Nigeria’s transition to a cashless economy.

It would also be recalled that the eNaira emerged from years of legal tussle over ownership rights when last month, in. May, a Federal High Court in Abuja, ruled in favour of the CBN, further granting it exclusive ownership rights over the eNaira digital currency platform.

Delivering judgment, Justice James Omotosho issued a perpetual injunction restraining a private firm, eNaira Payment Solutions Limited, from further presenting itself as the registered proprietor of the ‘eNaira’ trademark.

The court held that although the company was incorporated in 2004 by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), its use of a name closely linked to Nigeria’s sovereign currency was misleading and not legally registrable.