Four years after its high-profile unveiling, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) digital currency, the eNaira, has quietly slipped offline, leaving the project in limbo.
The Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), introduced in October 2021 by then-President Muhammadu Buhari, was promoted as a revolutionary tool to modernize Nigeria’s financial system, enhance cross-border payments, and strengthen the cashless economy.
At the launch, Buhari announced that the apex bank had already minted N500 million worth of eNaira, while 33 commercial banks were integrated into the system. “N500 million has been successfully minted by the Bank, N200 million has been issued to financial institutions, over 2,000 customers have been onboarded and over 120 merchants have successfully registered on the eNaira platform,” he said at the time.
The CBN projected that the initiative could raise Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by as much as $29 billion by 2031. Officials also emphasized that the platform would evolve through continuous upgrades. “Given that the eNaira is a journey, its unveiling marks only the first step. This journey will continue with a series of modifications, new capabilities, and enhancements to the platform,” the bank noted.
However, recent checks revealed that the digital currency is effectively unavailable. The original wallet portal, once accessible via www.enaira.gov.ng, now returns a “404 Website not found” error, pointing to an inactive application on Microsoft’s Azure platform.
According to FIJ, a search for the eNaira Speed Wallet app on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store also showed that it has been taken down.
The disappearance of the wallet and app has raised fresh questions about the fate of the ambitious project, which was once hailed as one of the first government-backed digital currencies in the world.
At the start, the CBN promised to collaborate with private partners to ensure inclusivity, particularly for rural communities and the unbanked population. “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has committed to working with relevant partners to ensure a seamless process that benefits all users, particularly those in rural areas and the unbanked population,” it stated during the launch phase.
Today, however, with the official platforms offline and no formal communication on the project’s status, Nigeria’s digital currency experiment appears stalled—leaving citizens and observers to wonder whether the eNaira will be revived or quietly phased out.
