Why the Enaira Craze is Only for Nigeria's Elite - Trendy Youth

Nigeria's central bank created the Enaira, a type of digital money, to help people access banking and make international payments more easily. The country hopes to better manage its money flow and economic activities with the Enaira, especially since the bank has faced many challenges.

The Enaira uses the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain protocol, a free technology started by the Linux Foundation. This could have been a big step for Nigeria, making it a leader in digital currency. But, many factors made it hard for the bank to get people to use the Enaira. In fact, only 2% of Nigerians use it now.

The Enaira started in October 2021. Interestingly, that was the same year Nigeria said "no" to cryptocurrencies. Launching a new digital money while saying no to other digital money made things confusing. The government also didn't do a good job telling people about the Enaira or teaching them how to use it. They also didn't upgrade systems to support it.

Today, only a few Nigerians really know how to get or use this digital money. Mostly, rich people and some young ones in big places like Lagos and Abuja use it. Why? Rich people like to save on fees and show they support new ideas from Nigeria. For them, using the Enaira is like wearing a badge of honor. 

Some young people tried the Enaira just to see what it's about. Many downloaded the Enaira app, looked at it, but then stopped using it. They found their regular banking apps did more.

One big worry is safety. The Enaira might be easy for bad people to attack online. The central bank knows this danger exists.Making many Nigerians to be more careful and avoid the Enaira, even if it's a great idea.

Nigeria is powerful. It's rich, many of its people use cryptocurrencies, and it has valuable natural things like gold and oil. The Enaira could help Nigeria's money grow even more. But, the government needs to work harder to make more people trust and use it.