Maiden Labs

CBDC Field Research Insights for the 2023 Report, “CBDC: Expanding Financial Inclusion or Deepening the Divide? Exploring Design Choices that Could Make a Difference”

Nigeria is a lower middle-income country with a large informal sector and low rate of financial inclusion. This is despite a series of financial inclusion policies and initiatives to promote digital payments. In 2021 Nigeria introduced a CBDC, the eNaira, to fulfill several goals in financial development and stability as well as to promote financial inclusion. The adoption was slower than expected despite the fact that it offered customers the possibility to create an eNaira wallet without an official ID or a bank account. Factors including low trust in government, poor communication around the rollout, and technical issues with the wallet app also affected the low uptake. The second phase was introduced in August 2022 with the specific goal of onboarding unbanked and underserved groups.