IMF says eNaira adoption disappointingly low

From Abubakar Yunus, Abuja

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says 98.5 percent of eNaira wallets have not been used even once.

In its recently released working paper titled ‘Nigeria’s eNaira, One Year After’, the Bretton Woods institution took stock of the first year of the eNaira —the first central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Africa.

President Muhammadu Buhari formally launched the digital currency at the state house in Abuja on October 25, 2021.

The IMF said despite the laudable undisrupted operation for the first full year, the CBDC project has not yet moved beyond the initial wave of limited adoption.

The fund said the take-up of the eNaira by households and merchants has been slow.

The IMF described the public adoption of the eNaira as “disappointingly low” due to the levels of wallet downloads and transactions.

The fund said as of endNovember 2021, the total number of retail eNaira wallets amounted to about 860,000 — a figure equivalent to just 0.8 percent of Nigeria’s active bank accounts.

“The retail wallet downloads saw a few weeks of initial surge before tapering off. More specially, it only took 25 days for the number of downloaded wallets to reach 500,000 units— but going from there to 600,000 units took another 63 days; and to 700,000 units yet another 143 days,” the paper reads.

“As of end-November 2021, the total number of retails eNaira wallets amounted to about 860,000. This is just 0.8 per cent of Nigeria’s active bank accounts.

“Merchant wallet download has reached about 100,000 in end-June, which is about one eleventh of the number of merchants with Point-of-Sales (POS) terminals—which enables credit or debit card payments.”

On transactions, the IMF said most wallets appear to remain inactive except for a limited window of weeks of activity surge.

The institution said the average number of eNaira transactions weekly were carried out only by 1.5 percent of downloaded wallets.

“The average number of eNaira transactions since its inception amounts to about 14,000 per week—only 1.5 percent of the number of wallets out there. This means that 98.5 percent of wallets, for any given week, have not been used even once,” the paper further reads.

“The average value of eNaira transactions has been 923 million naira per week—0.0018 percent of the average amount of M3 during this period. The average value per one transaction has been 60,000 naira.”

The IMF said network effects suggest the initial low adoption spell would require a coordinated policy drive to break it.

“The eNaira’s potential in financial inclusion requires a strategy to set the right relationship with mobile money, given the former’s potential to either complement or substitute the latter,” the institution said.

“Cost savings from integrating CBDC—as a bridge vehicle—in the remittance process may also be substantial.”

No license,No loading any petroleum products from June 1st —NMPDRA warns

By Abubakar Yunus Abuja

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMPDRA) has warned that from the 1st of June,2023,anybody who wants to handle petroleum products must obtain a license because no license,no loading of any petroleum products.

NMPDRA, Executive Director -Distribution Systems, storage and retailing Infrastructure,Ogugo K. Ukoha stated this at the stakeholders engagement on Gas utilization in Nigeria,in Abuja on Monday.

The objective of the engagement is to enlighten this end-user category on the need to urgently obtain the requisite petroleum storage license and to engender the transition from white products to gas at the last mile.

According to Okoha, “No license, no loading. So we still have like 9 days to do the right thing and comply. As the scripture says obedience is better than sacrifice. As a regulator we prefer for people to comply so that it doesn’t have adverse effects on your businesses.

“If there is no compliance, we can assure you from the Authority that from 1st June, there will be no license no loading.Any depot, any licensed operator who supplies petroleum products to an unlicensed facility we will shut down that operator.

“I want to make a special appeal that anybody who wants to handle petroleum products in excess of 500 liter storage is required to obtain a license. Our license procedure will go through what your equipment is, the distance, the hazards, procedures and everything.

“We encourage operators and businesses to take advantage of the evolving opportunities in the gas value chain for sustainable business growth by positioning their energy needs to embrace gas derivatives (LNG, LPG, CNG, Auotogas, Propane & Butane in order to hedge against future global uncertainties to diesel supply.”

He appeals to all petroleum handlers to fully comply with the provisions of the PIA and NMDPRA regulations and thereby avoid strong regulatory enforcement which may adversely impact on business operations.

Speaking further, Okoha said the authority’s twelve gazetted regulations define the licensing regimes, procedures and standards for handling petroleum products which when breached pose increased risks.

Earlier,NMDPRA the Chief Executive Officer, Engr.Farouk Ahmed said the Federal Government has put in place various initiatives and policy frameworks including the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) and the Decade of Gas Programme (DOCP).

Farouk, represented by the NMPDRA Executive Director health, safety, environment and Community,Dr Mustapha Lamorde said it is our hope that this engagement will create the necessary awareness and make the compelling case for industry operators to foster a compliance culture which alone guarantees safer and sustainable facilities.

He said the authority empowered by the Petroleum Industry Act (2021) is poised to enable the growth of the industry. The twelve (12) regulations recently gazetted unlock the golden opportunities and signpost the pathway to energy security.

“According to PIA 2022,the Authority the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund to catalyze gas investments and these efforts are yielding significant results, yet more collaborations and interventions are needed to improve domestic gas utilization”,he stated.