The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) for its eNaira to enhance financial inclusion in the country.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said this during the inauguration of the USSD transaction code at a 5-day northern eNaira fair, Kano 2022.

The theme of the fair is: “Implementation of eNaira Wallet Towards Job Opportunity and Economic Growth.”

The apex bank introduced the eNaira transaction code *997#, to engender financial inclusion and avail Nigerians opportunities to endless possibilities through financial services.

Mr Emefiele, represented by the Deputy Governor Operations, Folashodun Adenisi-Shonubi, described eNaira as a strategic initiative, in accordance with the bank’s mandate to preserve monetary and financial stability.

“It captured the slogan ‘Same Naira, More Possibilities’, and was designed to positively impact the lives of Nigerians, and transform the economy.

“The eNaira is expected to enhance inclusion, support poverty reduction, enable direct welfare disbursement to citizens, support a resilient payments ecosystem, improve availability and usability of central bank money,” he said.

He said it would also facilitate diaspora remittances, reduce the cost of processing cash, and improve efficiency of cross border payments, among others.

According to him, approximately 45 per cent Nigerians do not have bank accounts, while 35.9 per cent are excluded from formal financial services.

He, however, said that about 81 per cent of the adult population in Nigeria represents 86 million of the 106 million own mobile phones.

“In addition, there are 150 million Mobile Subscribers in Nigeria, according to NCC, June 2022.

“Therefore, eNaira seeks to leverage the huge opportunity mobile telecommunication presents, as a distribution channel for the offering of digital services to the underserved and unbanked population,” he said.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, represented by Sagir Muhammad, Special Adviser on Cabinet Affairs, thanked the CBN for the unveiling of the eNaira USSD code in Kano.

He said that his administration would ensure an enabling environment for businesses to thrive for the overall social and economic development of the state.

The governor said the state government would use the eNaira platform for its empowerment programmes, and urged Nigerians to utilise the opportunity to boost their businesses.

“With this, you don’t need to go to the bank, POS operators, or have ATM card, all you need is to use the transaction code “997#,” he said 

(NAN)