BANKS is the B keyword.
Commercial banks will play a very important and pivotal role in the early stages of the e-Naira. They are the front-end enabler of the registration. Simply downloading the eNaira app on the mobile phone will not be enough for this to go mainstream. The more widely used eNaira becomes and the more the number of people adopting it, the less the role of banks will become.
A major challenge will be overcoming the BUREAUCRACY of the registration process for people wishing to adopt it, especially the vastly uneducated and unbanked who thrive daily on their cash economy.
Checking the BALANCE of eNaira in the digital wallet is as simple as checking the balance in the physical wallet, if not easier. Just log into the account and check. A lot easier than counting hard currency.
There are obvious BENEFITS for using eNaira as noted already under “Advantages” under header A.
The BENEFICIARIES are those who make lots of transfers in the course of doing business and who will no longer have to pay inter-bank transfer fees.

CENTRALISED is the C keyword.
The platform that operates e-Naira is a centralised one managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria – CBN. It is a simple system that runs as an exchange and registration centre.
CBN issues hundreds of millions of digital naira. These are sold to individuals, corporate bodies both private and public entities through the intermediary of commercial banks.

Duly registered people and entities transfer money in their accounts into their digital wallets. Each eNaira has a unique identification number.
For example, John buys a product of one naira from Risikat.
He pays using eNaira reference number XX0901BQ which is presently in his digital wallet.
After the CONFIRMATION and authentication protocols, the central registry deletes eNaira XX0901BQ from John’s wallet and registers it in Risikat’s. That unique naira stays in her wallet till she uses it to pay someone else – again, authenticated and registered in the new owner’s name.
No transaction is possible without it going through that centralised registry.
As a result of this centralisation, the CBN has full CONTROL of all the movements of every single e-Naira.
This centralisation and control is what should in principle give CONFIDENCE to people using the platform. Yet, it needs to be mentioned that in the current state of insecurity in Nigeria with one group of people bent on total dominance of the others, and that group being in full control, there is bound to be lack of confidence in the system. Many people would need to be convinced that this is not just another ploy for spying on people’s finances.

DEATH is the D keyword.
Much as we detest it and sometimes fail to accept its inevitability, death happens to everyone sooner or later. And the question is, when it happens, what becomes of the money in the DIGITAL wallet of the deceased? If the deceased was the only one who had the biometric means to access the wallet, how do the successors access it?
This is one of the open questions which the eNaira platform would need to address sooner than later.
Another open question relates to how those with a digital wallet would know the others, and thereby know who could be paid in eNaira or not even before doing business with them. Would a DIRECTORY of businesses accepting eNaira be hosted on the DATABASE that is easily accessible to the general public?
Just as there are advantages to having a digital wallet, it also comes with its DISADVANTAGES. A few of these are highlighted in other parts of this A to Z analysis. A notable one is that it is easier for the security services to put under surveillance and monitor financial transactions of people who they consider as dissidents. The source of DEPOSIT into the wallet is recorded, and so is the recipient of transfers made.
Another notable disadvantage is that, because of the nature of the Nigerian economy and its large level of the undocumented street-level activities, digital wallet will never replace the payment modality for some basic day-to-day transactions. Hawkers, roadside seller etc are not going to give up the ease of receiving physical cash payment.

ENCRYPTION is the E keyword.
Information communicated on the eNaira platform is fully encrypted. This gives adequate level of security between the owner of the wallet and the CBN platform on which eNaira is hosted. It is nevertheless worth bearing in mind that even though the encryption is very EFFECTIVE, it does not stop the operatives of the state security services from tracing the movement of any eNaira from one account to another.

The launching of eNaira has followed the typical pattern of the government launching of any programme of this nature. There has been very little in terms of ENLIGHTENMENT of the general public. A big fanfare was made of the launching (under the usual political guise) and people were being ENCOURAGED to use eNaira. Yet, nothing was done in terms of public EDUCATION on it – especially among the unbanked who the CBN claim will massively benefit from it. Whatever funds might have been allocated to that would have gone the usual Nigerian way.

FAKE is the F keyword.
Because each eNaira that enters the system is numbered and its records are kept on the platform, it is close to being practically impossible to spend a fake eNaira on the platform. To be able to carry out such a FRAUD, the hacker would need to create a parallel FUNCTIONAL platform into which the fake eNaira numbers will be registered and injected. They would need to do a pairing which would need the key FEATURES to be identical and in alignment. The authentic eNaira platform will reject any attempt to pass a fake one via the platform.

While there is no doubting the fact that introducing eNaira shows that there is FORESIGHT on the part of the Central Bank, there is no indication that any FEASIBILITY study was carried out to assess the will or readiness of the people to adopt a digital wallet in replacement of their physical ones. Only time will tell how successful this initiative will turn out to be.

GOVERNMENT is the G keyword.
Yes, eNaira is a federal government initiative. In the same way as the issuance and management of the physically naira is done by the CBN which is an organ of the government, the administration and GOVERNANCE of eNaira is under the same umbrella.
The government is the GUARANTOR of each eNaira as a legal tender. The platform ensures the GENUINENESS of the digital wallet which contains (individually numbered) units of the naira.
Like with physical naira, the owners of the wallet do not need to know the reference numbers of each eNaira in the wallet. The system tracks and records the movement of the naira from one wallet to the other. At any point in time, the registry on the platform knows exactly in whose wallet a particular naira is found. This is unlike the case of the paper naira for which it is impossible to know who currently holds the currency notes.
The eNaira is only GLOBAL to the extent that someone with a digital wallet on its platform will be able to pay anyone who is also in possession of a wallet, irrespective of where they might be in the world. This means that Mr. Sule who lives in Dubai and has e-Naira digital wallet can pay Ms. Njokwu who lives in Nairobi and also has a wallet. Mr. Sule can not pay someone who has no e-Naira wallet in Dubai or anywhere else. Not even in Nigeria.

HYPE is the H keyword.
The launching of eNaira has been an exercise in hyping. It has been heralded as one of the greatest things to have happened in the history of banking in Nigeria. Yes, there are indeed, obvious benefits for a digital currency. Nigeria is not the first to introduce it – and will not be the last.

The reality is that some of the HYPOTHESESE on which the eNaira was based simply ignore the pressing issues facing Nigerians. There are issues that are of greater priority than eNaira. Issues that the government both at local, state and federal levels do not appear to take serious enough.
The fact is that Nigerians would have liked to see a HOLISTIC approach to the problems facing the people.
In practical terms, a wallet is a wallet whether digital or physical. A wallet is useless without money going into it. A graduate without a job. Traders facing business failures. Employees that are owed months of unpaid salaries. Economy in free-fall. Too many people, including the unbanked who the proponents of eNaira claim would be brought in are in HOPELESS and dire state.

A digital currency does not offer the support or the solution that the people need.
It was obvious from the period prior to the launch that there was not enough HOMEWORK done to prepare for it. There was no awareness campaign. At a stage, the launch had to be delayed. It was obvious that there were those who sought to make political gains from it.

For those who sign up for it and need technical HELP with the app or issues with the platform, the current advice is that they should contact their local banks.

INNOVATION is the key I word.
eNaira is a good innovation in Nigeria. It is not much different from what already exists in several countries. Even though eNaira is a good IDEA, its rollout has suffered from INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION.
There may be need for INCENTIVES to motivate people to take it up, especially in the earlier years.
eNaira is not INDISPENSABLE, and even in years to come, it will only be available and used by those who have bank accounts. Too many Nigerians do not have accounts and will have no possibility to get on the platform.
Even though eNaira is digital and should in principle be usable anywhere in the world, it can not be INTERNATIONAL because only those who are registered on it and who would normally accept paper naira as payment can use it.

JUSTIFICATION is the J keyword.
One principal reason given for the launching of eNaira is that it would enable the unbanked Nigerians to be able to use the digital currency for payment. The only requirement cited is that they own a mobile phone.
In practical terms, and in reality, this is just one of the hypes of the project.
Most of the unbanked Nigerians do not earn salaries. They are either low-level market traders, low-level artisans or rural farmers. While they might be able to use a mobile phone, their phones are very basic and are designed to handle simple operations, principally, to make and receive calls.
Most of these people are unable to provide the sort of identification and documentation needed to register a digital wallet. Most also would simply like to be able to count their physical cash at the close of the day.

JOINT account ownership, i.e. accessing and sharing of a digital wallet is hardly possible due to the sign-in and authentication process – especially when a biometric authentication is required.

KNOWLEDGEBASE is the K keyword.
eNaira as a digital currency is built on the blockchain knowledgebase. It is a centralised payment exchange platform rather than a distributed system on which cryptocurrencies are built. And unlike cryptocurrencies, one important KEYWORD is control.
Central banks are known for currency regulation and control, and in the case of eNaira, that exactly is the situation. CBN releases the eNaira and manages the exchange platform.
The mechanism and the knowledgebase of eNaira is of no interest to 99.9% of those who will subscribe to the digital wallet. Consequently, this section is only directed at those who are knowledgeable in this subject.

LOSERS is the L keyword.
While there are cost savings for the masses, if (or when) eNaira becomes widely adopted, the biggest losers will be the commercial banks and their associated service providers on whose platforms bank transfers are currently being done.
There is a massive amount of money being made daily by these banks from the millions of inter-bank transactions. This source of funds will be cut off.
There are no LIMITATIONS on the number of transactions that can be made by anyone using eNaira or the amount of money that could be transferred at any one time.
There is no limitation on the age of anyone registering for a wallet. 

MISUSE is the M keyword.
Unfortunately, the reality of the current situation in Nigeria is that the security services are MONITORING the movement and financial transactions of people who are under their radar. These are mostly people who are standing up to fight against injustice and the domination of their people by the Fulanis who are disproportionately over all the strategic organs of the government.
If you sign up for eNaira, be careful how you use it and who you transfer money to. Always have it in mind that you are being watched.
It should not be a surprise that there will be MISINFORMATION both from proponents and opponents of a new scheme like a digital currency.
It should also not be a surprise that there might be some MODIFICATIONS to the rules and processes governing the use of eNaira.
With time, its purpose, use, advantages and disadvantages as well as the MODALITY will all become clearer.

NUMBER is the N keyword.
The usefulness of eNaira depends on a large number of people and establishments, including businesses, public institutions etc signing up to use it. If CBN is unable to persuade people and eNaira does not go mainstream NATIONWIDE, the project will die a natural death.
There would need to be a strong drive to convince people of the NECESSITY to use eNaira instead of what they have been used to, which is the ease of carrying around cash and making payments as and when they need to. Or just making bank transfers.

The modality of making payments using a mobile phone requires reliable telephone NETWORK connection at all times. Attempting to make a payment from a digital wallet from a zone with poor connection could create problems.

OFFICIAL is the O keyword.
eNaira as an official project of the government will be driven not only by voluntary take-ups, but also by coercion. Under a dictatorial democracy, coercion is a tool that is commonly used. It is to be expected that at a certain stage, with the OBJECTIVE of forcing people to register for a digital wallet, some government agencies and parastatals will insist on payments being made only and exclusively with eNaira.
It should not come as a surprise that payments for services like JAMB and even for utilities like electricity, and at state and local administrative centres will at some stage require payment only with eNaira.
It might come to the stage at which the OPTION of paying in any other forms will no longer exist.

With the ingenuity of Nigerian petty businesses in the financial services, eNaira might be creating some new OPORTUNITIES for a new set of middlemen. One could foresee some of the people running the POS finding one way or the other to adapt their services to cater for people who do not have a digital wallet. It is just a matter of time before shady operators find their way into the system.

PARTICIPATION is the P keyword.

As already noted in several parts of this A-Z page, the level of participation in eNaira will determine its usefulness. There must be a critical mass of people, businesses and administrations using it in order to motivate the general masses to lock up their money in a digital wallet. But eNaira, like other digital currencies, has lots of POTENTIALS, partly because the government could adopt the POLICY of insisting on the use of eNaira to make PAYMENTS for essential services. There is no doubting the fact that POLITICS was part of the motivation for launching this project.

Those who already do mobile banking, using a digital wallet is another PRACTICAL way of making PAYMENTS. It has a good level of PERFORMANCE which results from the fact that the whole operation is hosted on the same PLATFORM. The level of PROTECTION of the users on the platform will depend on the robustness of the security measures built into it. The risk is not just of hackers breaking into it, but also that of DoS (Denial of Service) which could very easily PARALYSE the whole platform.

QUESTIONS is the Q keyword.
There are a few questions that will occupy the minds of people as eNaira comes into use.
The QUINTESSENTIAL is perhaps that of when (not if) they are going to be coerced into signing up for it. And when that happens, the sort of QUEUE they may have to join in their bank, especially if they wait till it becomes obligatory for everyone to sign up for it.

RISK is the R keyword.

Other than the security risk of the subscribers personal and transaction information being misused and confidentiality being compromised (as noted in a couple of places in this A-Z report), there are no other major risks to using eNaira.
There is of course a risk of mobile network failure (from a service provider) that could make it difficult to effect a transfer. But unlike with bank accounts, the loss of a telephone should not translate into the loss of a digital wallet. The authentication process is more secured. Also, within the same platform, it is easier to trace the recipient of any stolen funds.
There is a risk of having a heavy balance on the digital wallet and realising that many of those to be paid have no digital wallets. Carefully managing the balance between digital wallet and bank should help to address this risk.

The low level of READINESS prior to its launch was obvious from the near lack of information on what eNaira really is and how it would affect the day-to-day lives of the people.

While there is still widespread ignorance (as well as some misinformation) on it, the situation has improved somewhat, albeit with most people concluding that it has no RELEVANCE to their daily lives.
Most will stick with the RELIABLE mobile and internet services of their banks’ while making payments. Their banks will eventually advise them on REGISTRATION for digital wallets even though this is REGULATED by the Central Bank.

SECURITY is the S keyword.
The digital wallet is very secured, and with the stringent use of sophisticated authentication process, especially involving use of biometrics, it is harder for hackers to gain access into.

Also, unlike with bank transfer which involves going through several platforms, with eNaira, there is only one central platform to secure. In addition, because of the uniqueness of each eNaira, there is a high level of traceability on the CBN registry of “ownership”. Converting into cash can only be done through a commercial bank which will demand full identification of the person cashing it.
Without the tricking of wallet owner into participating in the eNaira transfer, the exchange platform is robust enough to be SCAM-free.
Anyone who has concerns about SURVEILLANCE of their financial transactions should be careful about registering an eNaira wallet. The principal reason why cryptocurrencies are outlawed in Nigeria is because of the inability of the Nigeria government to cast a snoop on those using it. It is not because of corrupt officials using cryptocurrencies to launder their ill-gotten loots. Everyone in government, past and present, is doing it. The reality is that a setting in which a minority group dominates the majority requires a tight monitoring of the activities and financing of those who dare to fight for justice and against oppression. If you are planning to use eNaira to support groups like IPOB, you might wish to think again.

For notes on personal security, please see Misuse under M above.

TECHNOLOGIES is the T keyword.
eNaira is based on a simple blockchain technology which aims to identify and trace the movement of every digital object that is registered on it. Every digital wallet is a remote location within the universe and is linked to the central base. Every remote location authorised to participate in a TRANSFER i.e., to send and/or receive a digital object. What might be unknown to the owners at the remote locations is that every send/receive TRANSACTION request passes through and is authenticated by the central database acting as the registry. That registry simply deletes information of the object (i.e., the specific eNaira) from the records of the sender and writes it on the record of the receiver who now becomes the new owner of the object.

The presence of the central registry is what differentiates the eNaira technology from the one that power cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are powered by distributed ledger technologies. A distributed ledger is a consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data which are geographically spread across multiple sites. Thus, unlike with a centralised database, there is no central administrator. That means, no big brother in Abuja watching your activities.

Unlike with cryptocurrencies, eNaira has no TOKEN.
In terms of TIMING, transfers from one digital wallet to another is instantaneous.
In terms of its actual value, the eNaira could be TRUSTED to be at par with the physical naira.

USEFULNESS is the U keyword.
There is no doubting the fact that eNaira is a useful way to make and receive payments. Its degree of usefulness will be determined by how widely it is adopted among the people, and within business and government domains. There must be the UNDERSTANDING that it cannot replace the other two forms of payment (cash and bank transfers). It will, at best become a third payment option – albeit, gradually expanding its reach while the others two (especially bank transfers) reduce in prominence.
It will not become a UNIVERSAL form of payment like a credit card. While it may be used outside Nigeria, such use is restricted. (See Global under Section G.)
The eNaira platform will not only be secured, it will also provide UNINTERRUPTED exchange/registry service. Nevertheless, the network connections of both parties (sending/receiving) need to be functioning to enable completion of a transfer.

The amount of eNaira that could be transferred at one single time is UNLIMITED. The only condition is that it can not be more than what the sender has in the wallet.

VOLUNTARY is the V keyword.
It is most unlikely that the mainstream will voluntarily adopt the eNaira. There would need to be a critical mass of adoption for that to happen. People with limited means will be reluctant to split their funds into a digital wallet and a bank account. That might prove to be inconvenient, and they might be inclined to first VERIFY that the persons that they need to make payments to have also registered on the platform. At any point in time, the VALUE of their eNaira wallet is as good as the number of persons that they need to make payments to, and who also have digital wallets.

WALLET is the W keyword.
eNaira is a digital wallet. In reality, it is like the physical wallet that you have in your pocket. If you do not put money in it, it will be empty. You cannot take more out of it than what you put into it. If your wallet, digital or physical, is empty, you can not take out of it. You would need to replenish it. At any point in time, the WORTH of your wallet is the balance of all the single, digitally numbered e-Naira that it contains.

WITHDRAWALS are done through WIRELESS means when you pay for a product or service. You cannot withdraw physical naira from an ATM machine or from a bank’s cash desk.
Replenishing the wallet is also done through wireless means, either when someone pays you using eNaira, or when you go through the set out formalities of converting your cash or bank deposits into eNaira.

X-CHANGE is the X keyword.
Because eNaira is a digital currency, it is strictly intended to be transferred between one digital wallet and another. The reason for the transfer itself is not of any importance.
eNaira could be exchanged for a service of a product.

As long as the appropriate protocol is followed, it could be used to purchase foreign exchange through a commercial bank – by transferring the amount from the wallet into a designated eNaira wallet of the bank.

YIELD is the Y keyword.
It is important to note that, unlike with money in a deposit account with a bank, the eNaira in a wallet does not yield any interest no matter how big the amount is or how long it is left in the digital wallet.
The YARDSTICK for measuring an intelligent use of the wallet is the level of “idle” eNaira left in it for a considerable length of time.
The question to ask oneself at any time is, if it would not be wiser to leave “excess” funds in an interest-generating bank account instead.

ZERO is the Z keyword.
Zero is what you get when your wallet is empty. Just as it is possible to have an empty physical wallet, there is nothing preventing you from having a digital wallet with no eNaira in it.