The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, inferred in a recent speech that the new e-naira central bank digital currency (CBDC) could result in a surge in the price of his country’s GDP by $29 billion in ten years.
President Buhari talked with enough assurance in his speech at Monday’s launch of the digital currency e-naira, saying “Indeed, some estimates indicate that the adoption of CBDC and its underlying technology, called blockchain, can increase Nigeria’s GDP by US$29billion over the next 10 years.”
Adding to the comment regarding building Nigeria’s GDP, President Buhari suggested that a digital currency with such potential might help shift more people and businesses from the informal sector to the formal sector.
Acknowledging that several countries are still in the study and empirical stages, the Nigerian President insists that the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), which he claims has been investigating CBDCs since way back in 2017, is well qualified to launch the digital currency.
In his speech, broadcasted by Premium Times, President Buhari gave reasons why he granted permission to the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) to explore the possibility of issuing Africa’s first CBDC. He clarified:
“This move was underpinned by the fact that the CBN has been a leading innovator in the form of money they produce, and in the payment services, they deploy for efficient transactions. They have invested heavily in creating a payment system that is ranked in the top ten in the world and certainly the best in Africa”
According to the president, the basis of a payment system, as well as the central bank’s support of many private-sector initiatives to improve the current payment method, is what made the CBN issue the e-naira.
Despite the praise heaped on the Nigerian financial system, President Buhari has declared that the CBDC is going to be closely monitored and supervised.
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