The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has taken the sensitisation drive of e-Naira to women during the Law Ladies Day programme at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Yaba Lagos.

The move according to the apex bank, is to further promote the adoption of e-Naira into the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and to sensitise women, students, law students and other Nigerians who gathered for the 2023 Law Ladies Day programme.

In line with the Law Ladies Day programme themed: ‘Defying Stereotypes: Celebrating the Different Shades of Femininity’, CBN used the occasion to reach out to students and others within the university campus to sensitise them on the benefits and importance of e-Naira transactions and why they should use the channel.

Mary Fasheitan, the Special Adviser Payment Systems to the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, who took women through the importance of e-Naira, advantages and opportunities the digital currency offers to the financial community and women, stated that it was high time women embraced e-Naira  for transactions.

According to her, e-Naira offers financial freedom and women inclusivity where other financial instruments do not provide and offers fast transaction time, cross board payment option and gives women financial inclusion.

She said: “e-Naira provides a unique form of money denominated in Naira. e-Naira serves as both a medium of exchange and a store of value, offering better payment prospects in retail transactions when compared to cash payments. It has an exclusive operational structure that is both remarkable and nothing like other forms of central bank money.”

She observed that the whole world was going digital, hence the CBN was responding appropriately to the innovation by introducing a lot of cashless policies, of which e-Naira is one, noting that the apex bank is the first to introduce e-Naira in Africa and only the second in the world.

Fasheitan encouraged female law students to embrace e-Naira and transact with it because it is safe, secure and fully digitalised. “You have nothing to be afraid of because it is one of the most secured channels from the apex bank for transactions,” she assured.

Also speaking at the event, the Managing Partner of Hilton Top Solicitors, Deborah Enyone Oni, said e-Naira remained a great innovation of CBN that should be lauded.

According to her, “e-Naira offers various advantages and opportunities to its users. Its block chain technology feature also enables users to make cross border transactions easily.”

She reiterated that the e-Naira will foster women financial and economic empowerment. Enyone Oni added: “We have partnered with the CBN on the e-Naira and one of our main focuses is to leverage the opportunity to empower women by sensitising them on the advantages of the e-Naira in light of digitalisation.”

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revoked the operating licences of 132 microfinance banks, four primary mortgage banks, and three finance companies in the country.

The revocation exercise was disclosed in the official gazette of the Federal Government published on the website of the CBN on Tuesday.

According to the gazette, the licences of the financial institutions were revoked because they ceased to carry on in Nigeria, the type of business for which their licences were issued for a continuous period of six months.

They were also alleged to have “failed to fulfil or comply with the conditions subject to which their licences were granted; or failed to comply with the obligations imposed upon them by the Central Bank of Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, Act No. 5.”

The four primary mortgage banks whose licences were revoked are Resort Savings & Loans, Safetrust Mortgage Bank, Adamawa Savings & Loans and Kogi Savings & Loans.

The finance companies whose licences were revoked include HHL Invest & Trust Limited, TFS Finance Limited and Treasures & Trust Limited.

Some of the microfinance banks listed include Bluewhales Microfinance Bank, Igangan Microfinance Bank, Mainsail Microfinance Bank, Everest Microfinance Bank, Merit Microfinance Bank, Musharaka Microfinance Bank, Nopov Microfinance Bank, among others.

The gazette showed that Godwin Emefiele, governor, CBN revoked the licences in the exercise of the powers conferred on the Central Bank of Nigeria under Section 12 of BOFIA 2020, Act No. 5.

Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has assured depositors of Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) whose licenses were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday of prompt payment of their insured sums.

Mr. Bello Hassan, managing director, NDIC, in a statement, said, as deposit insurer, the NDIC would begin the process of payment of the insured sums immediately with the verification of eligible depositors at the respective premises of the closed banks.

He enjoined such depositors to get the required documents for the exercise such as proof of account ownership, verifiable means of identification and alternate bank account to facilitate their seamless verification and payment of their insured deposits.

The NDIC Boss stated, “the insured deposit  is the first claim that the Corporation pays to depositors upon revocation of bank’s license by the CBN,” adding, “the maximum specified limits for the MFB and PMB sub-sectors are N200,000.00 and N500,000.00 per depositor per bank, respectively.”

As liquidator, the MD disclosed that the Corporation has also put machinery in motion to commence sales of assets of the defunct banks as well as recover debts owed to them in order to declare liquidation dividends on pro rata basis to the affected depositors with claims exceeding the maximum insured sums of N200,000.00 for MFBs and N500,000.00 for PMBs.

He assured that regulatory authorities would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the soundness of the banking system was not compromised, stressing that there was no need for the public to panic over the safety of their bank deposits.