The Central Bank of Nigeria's renewed push to revive the eNaira comes at a time when the country's digital payments ecosystem is already vibrant, competitive, and largely driven by private innovation. From Paga to Flutterwave, Paystack to Opay, Nigerian FinTechs have built intuitive, reliable, and widely adopted platforms that meet consumer needs with speed and flexibility. Yet, the eNaira, launched as Africa's first central bank digital currency, has struggled to find relevance outside the headlines of its debut. As the CBN prepares its second big push, one question looms large: should the eNaira be seen as a competitor in the payments market, or should it become a collaborative tool that leverages the existing FinTech infrastructure to succeed?
The problem with the eNaira's first iteration was never purely technological. Nigeria already has high mobile penetration, expanding internet access, and a population that has demonstrated openness to cashless transactions. What it lacked was a clear value proposition. For consumers, the eNaira did not feel meaningfully different from using a mobile banking app or a FinTech wallet, and in some cases, it offered less convenience. Transactions were not always seamless, the onboarding process was clunky, and integration with everyday payment channels was limited. Worse still, the digital currency was often misunderstood, with some perceiving it as a replacement for bank deposits or even a way for the government to monitor spending more closely. In a market where trust in financial institutions is fragile, those perceptions were enough to keep many away.
