By Amaechi Ogbonna and Omodele Adigun
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has urged Nigerians to harness the benefits of the underlying crypto technology to benefit the economy just as the apex bank has set 94 per cent financial inclusion target for Nigeria by 2024.
Emefiele stated this at the weekend in his virtual address declaring open the 30th Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors in Lagos. Represented by Mr Edward Adamu , the Deputy Governor in charge of Corporate Services , Emefiele, who also charged the nation to build a solid digital economy by focusing on digital infrastructure such as internet connectivity, digital literacy and skills, digital financial services, digital platforms and digital entrepreneurship and innovation to drive growth, explained that CBN did not place any new restrictions on the use of crypto currency in Nigeria, said that “our recent directive only amplified an earlier regulation on the subject of cryptocurrency.”
He added: “However, our policy stand does not preclude Nigerians from harnessing the benefits of the underlying technology that support crypto transactions, which is a distributed ledger, commonly referred to as blockchain. There are several examples where blockchain technology has been used to facilitate and improve transparency in the settlement of trade transactions. Our regulatory sandbox is available for fintech companies to explore the use of blockchain technology in areas that would be beneficial to the Nigerian economy.”
Meanwhile, announcing the new financial inclusion target during his virtual presentation, its Director, Payments System Management Department, Mr Musa Itopa Jimoh, said the aim of the old financial inclusion target was to raise the number of those who are outside the system into the financial system by 80 per cent in 2020,” In other words, we wanted to reduce exclusion rate to 20 per cent by the year 2020.