International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Publications ISSN (Online): 2581-6187 31 Bernard Ephraim, Ogoegbulem Ozioma, Pius Uagbae Ejodamen, “The Nigerian eNaira and the Currency Redesign Policy: A Review on Their Effectiveness,” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Publications(IJMRAP), Volume 5, Issue 12, pp. 31-34, 2023. The Nigerian eNaira and the Currency Redesign Policy: A Review on Their Effectiveness Bernard Ephraim 1 , Ogoegbulem Ozioma 2 , Pius Uagbae Ejodamen 3 1 Department of Computing Sciences, Admiralty University of Nigeria, Ibusa, Delta State, Nigeria-320103, 2 Department of Mathematics, Dennis Osabebay University, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria-320242, 3 Department of Computing Sciences, Admiralty University of Nigeria, Ibusa, Delta State, Nigeria-320103 Email address: ephraim1989ben@gmail.com, ozioma.ogoegbulem@dou.edu.ng, piusejodamen@adun.edu.ng Abstract - The advancement in modern technology, internet usage and the need to swiftly carry out transactions between individuals who are physically apart has given rise to the invention of various kinds of electronic payment systems. In this paper, the researchers applied both the quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis on primary and secondary sources of data gathered respectively to assess the effectiveness of the Nigerian digital currency, the eNaira and the currency redesign policy. Also, it reviews a couple of literature relevant to the naira redesign policy implementation and the eNaira which reveals that naira redesign may not achieve much in mitigating currency counterfeiting, banditry and laundering if this does not take into consideration extending the security features of the naira notes and redenominating the naira notes to include N2000, N5000, N10,000 and N20,000 notes and converting N50, N20, N10, and N5 notes to coins as this is expected to reduce the annual printing and minting costs of the naira. Furthermore, from the survey conducted by the study, the researchers found that most respondents have less than N5000 worth of the new naira notes in their possession and most had issues onboarding the USSD platform resulting from poor network connectivity mostly on the Globacom and 9Mobile networks. The study reveals that there is generally poor circulation of the new naira notes and low adoption of the eNaira. This paper recommends that the new naira notes be made readily accessible by citizens, better security features be added to the naira notes, redenomination of the naira notes to include N2000, and N5000 notes and the coinage of N50, N20, N10, and N5 notes be considered, more awareness of the eNaira be made especially on popular social media platforms and USSD connectivity on all major Nigerian mobile networks be stabilised. Keywords- eNaira, Nigeria Currency Redesign Policy, New Naira Notes, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Central Bank Digital Currency. I. INTRODUCTION Nigeria is one of the few countries of the world currently developing this digital currency for its citizens [13] owing to the huge advantage it comes with - easy tax remittance, financial inclusion of the unbanked, more reliable transactions and faster settlements of transaction disputes among others. Good as these benefits may sound, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is having a hard time getting citizens to use this digital currency it calls the eNaira. This may be due to the issues users have while onboarding the eNaira app itself, lack of trust and faith in the government and the CBN, poor mobile network, and the issues surrounding the currency redesign policy implementation among others. The first three months of the year 2023 have been a period of mixed feelings, pressure, and anxiety for the majority of Nigerians because the long-awaited national elections which most Nigerians believe would be a game-changer in the nation’s politics are around the corner, the implementation of the Naira redesign policy, and the consequent introduction of the eNaira. Despite the positive impacts that this Naira redesign policy and the eNaira were projected to make, most Nigerians have complained about its effectiveness in increasing the financial inclusion of the majority. This review aims to provide a comprehensive and critical analysis of the current literature on the implementation of the Naira redesign policy and the effectiveness of the eNaira in the Nigerian economy, with a focus on identifying key challenges and opportunities for future research. II. LITERATURE REVIEW According to the Central Bank of Nigeria [4] the eNaira is a digital currency that provides a unique form of money denominated in Naira which serves as both a medium of exchange and a store of value and offers better payment prospects in retail transactions when compared to cash payments. R. David defines digital currency as any currency that is exclusively available in electronic form. He further adds that digital currency differs from the electronic currency already widely used in commercial banks in that digital currency never takes a physical form. While electronic currency can be converted to physical cash at the ATM or over the counter, digital currency remains exclusively exchanged via digital means [13] . Accordingly, R. David enlisted cryptocurrency, stablecoins and central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the varieties of digital currency [13] . In the case of this review, eNaira is a type of CBDC issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). C. J. Ebere outlines quick maintenance, cost-effectiveness, financial inclusion, and easy access to money among others as the opportunities and digital illiteracy, security and privacy, and lack of trust among others as the challenges of the eNaira [5] . E. Ehi opines that the eNaira owing to its regulation by the CBN is less prone to money laundering and terrorism funding as opposed to other unregulated varieties of digital currency like cryptocurrency [6] . Financial inclusion as defined by P.K Ozili, is the basic access to all financial services for all people [11] . While this can be seen as a good thing, P.K Ozili holds the view that this financial inclusion inherently opens the non- sophisticated poor to higher risks as compared to the gains of