Happy Independence Day Nigeria. It takes a person who has reached the top-most part of the mountain to appreciate the deepest of valleys. The promise is ahead despite the challenges along the way. Hey, even a surprise for those who know how to use it; I struggle with it. Yes,  Nigeria is set to lift a ban on the little blue bird  under the condition that it’s used in the country for “business and positive engagements”. Good luck Twitter as you fly back to Nigeria.

It is a great playbook which everyone has been asking for: yes, change the rules and let some of the new species of companies find their feet within the Nigerian stock exchange. And there seems to be a plan:  “The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) hopes to rethink laws guiding Initial Public Offering (IPO) in order to make the terms attractive enough to woo tech start-ups with valuation topping $1 billion and other companies for listing on the Nigerian bourse.”

If we do not get these companies, the nation will lose. Imagine if the new generation banks which brought new ordinance in banking were not attracted to the Nigerian stock exchange in the 1990s, today we will not have GTBank*, Access Bank and others. So, anything the nation can do to get the likes of Flutterwave and Interswitch to list in Nigeria will be huge. Lol.

The #1 rule is this: profitability should not be used as a major metric because some of these firms may not be profitable for years. But they will be after their leverageable factors through scale begin to compound. So, we need to get them in as quickly as possible because what they do is what the future will be for.

New listings seem hard for the NGX to find following slow growth in Nigeria on account of the pandemic outbreak, forcing investors to make do with fewer stocks and weakening liquidity.

Mr Bolumole said NGX would be banking on the review to win over technology firms desiring to source additional capital or provide liquidity for current stockholders.

A raft of tech start-ups focusing on Nigeria and Africa has advanced to become unicorns, having achieved a valuation of above $1 billion for a private company.

In this category are OPay, Jumia Technologies AG, Flutterwave, Interswitch and New York-based Andela, which just joined the rank on Wednesday after a fundraise shooting its valuation to $1.5 billion

“The CBN took the decision to postpone the launch, which had been initially planned to coincide with the Independence anniversary, in deference to the mood of national rededication to the collective dream of One Nigeria,”Mr Osita Nwanisobi, the apex bank’s Director of Corporate Communications noted in a statement.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has paused the launch of e-naira, the digital currency. Sure, that is our tradition in this part of the world as nothing is  ever launched by the government as promised, on time. Yet, there are many issues to be concerned including that letter from the trademark owner of “enaira”:

‘The document titled: “Infringement of Trademark & Violation of Corporate Name cease and desist Notification to the Central Bank of Nigeria,” signed by Olakule Agbebi Esq for Olakule Agbebi & Co., was reportedly sent to the apex bank, warning it to cease the use of the eNaira name. The notice, which was sent on behalf of “ENAIRA PAYMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED (RC 508500)” said the company has been incorporated since 7th April 2004, registered in class 36 and class 42.’

May I tell the apex bank that if it wants to work with our startup on mNaira that we are open for a mutual discussion. Our portfolio firm owns that trademark and can explore how to help the bank here.

CBN Postpones the Launch of E-naira – What Could Have Happened?

The Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) has postponed the much anticipated launch of its Digital Currency, the eNaira.

The disappointing announcement was made on Friday by the financial regulator’s spokesman, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, who explained that the planned launch has been canceled because it coincides with Nigeria’s 61st Independence Anniversary, which has many key activities that the e-naira’s unveiling could not get along with.

Last week, the e-naira website went up live to the excitement of Nigerians who couldn’t wait to see the platform power their digital currency transactions, making the news that the launch has been postponed, heartbreaking.

But explaining further on the development, Mr. Nwanisobi assured Nigerians that the e-naira project remains intact. He said the CBN and stakeholders have worked round the clock to ensure a seamless process that will be for the overall benefit of the customer, particularly those in the rural areas and the unbanked population.

Mr. Nwanisobi also explained that the decision to postpone the launch of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is in deference to the mood of national rededication to the collective dream of One Nigeria.

The launch had been slated for October 1, which would have made it part of the Independence Day activities.

No new date was announced for the launch of the digital currency, which has got many wondering if there is more to it.

Could there more be to it?

On Tuesday, a cease and desist document sent to the CBN over the use of the name eNaira, was published online.

The document titled: “Infringement of Trademark & Violation of Corporate Name cease and desist Notification to the Central Bank of Nigeria,” signed by Olakule Agbebi Esq for Olakule Agbebi & Co., was reportedly sent to the apex bank, warning it to cease the use of the eNaira name.

The notice, which was sent on behalf of “ENAIRA PAYMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED (RC 508500)” said the company has been incorporated since 7th April 2004, registered in class 36 and class 42.

The document stated that the scheduled launch of the eNaira is a threat and shows willful infringement of his client’s trademark. The notice also added that “ENAIRA PAYMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED has now been exposed to damages, loss of business and loss of goodwill due to CBN’s infringement.

“For this reasons, our client has approached the Federal High Court in Suit No: FHC/AB/CS/113/2021 between ENAIRA PAYMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED vs CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA to seek a restraining order including an order to restrain CBN from proceeding in the launch on 1st October 2021,”? the Notice stated. “In the interim, the CBN is hereby warned to cease and desist from using or purporting to use the name eNaira for its product or in any way,” it added.

It is therefore believed that the postponement of the CBDC launch is in connection with the unexpected issue of trademark infringement by the CBN. Many Nigerians are concerned that the central bank would ignorantly use a name registered by a business entity without their approval.

Good People, this a pre-event alert to block the date/time for the 5th edition of First Bank Fintech Summit. Yours truly will keynote this year’s one and I will be speaking on Open Banking and the grand unification of financial services across many dimensions. The Summit is an event geared towards bringing together the finest and most innovative subject matter experts who are at the forefront of digital innovation both locally and on the global stage. The schedule is here.