The Central Bank of Nigeria has postponed the launch of its central bank digital currency – the e-Naira. The e-Naira was scheduled to launch today, the first of October, commemorating Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary.
Although the launch of the e-Naira was postponed, it is not a result of the cease and desist notification it received from Olakunle Agbebi & Co on behalf of their client ENAIRA PAYMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED. A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has given the central bank the go-ahead for the launch of the e-Naira irrespective of the threat to be sued it received from the aforementioned company. The company that sent the cease and desist notification goes under the name ENAIRA PAYMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED and is registered with the number 508500. The company has long been in existence and has been incorporated since the 7th of April 2004.
The case against the CBN initiated by ENAIRA PAYMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED made a claim of trademark infringement. The case numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/113/2021 read “For this reasons, our client has approached the Federal High Court in Suit No: FHC/AB/CS/113/2021 between ENAIRA PAYMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED vs CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA to seek a restraining order including an order to restrain CBN from proceeding in the launch on 1st October 2021”, the document read adding that “In the interim, the CBN is hereby warned to cease and desist from using or purporting to use the name e-Naira for its product or in any way”. The Federal high court in Abuja is allowing the rollout of the e-Naira on the grounds that it is of national significance. The matter was, however, adjourned to October 11, 2021, for further hearing.
On Tuesday, we reported that the e-Naira’s launched may be postponed till the 4th of October. A tweet from Nigerian tech expert, YouTuber and tech entrepreneur Fisayo Fosodu predicted the postponement of the e-Naira’s launch.
“The e-Naira platform just went live (and has gotten 1 million views –enaira.com). The launch might be delayed from October 1st until the 4th according to reports”, his tweet read.
According to what the Director of Corporate Communications of the Central Bank – Osita Nwanisobi- said yesterday, the launch of the e-Naira was delayed due to other significant activities that have been lined up to commemorate the 61st Independence Anniversary.
Although the launch has been delayed, the e-Naira website has been launched and the e-Naira wallet can be downloaded from the website or from Apple or Google Play Store. Pending its launch, you can read what to expect from the e-Naira here.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
