Clickatell partners CBN to drive access to eNaira banking services via USSD

By Chisom Nwatu

Clickatell, leading global provider of business to consumer communication, has partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to launch a USSD channel for its eNaira Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as part of the country’s drive to make basic banking accessible to all Nigerians, ultimately driving financial inclusion.

The eNaira was launched in October 2021 as Africa’s first central bank-backed digital currency, with President Muhammadu Buhari saying it would help boost remittances, foster cross-border trade, and help his government make welfare payments more easily.

With financial inclusion at the heart of the eNaira goals, President Buhari also said that he believed the CBDC would increase GDP in the country by $29 billion over the next 10 years.

The Clickatell-CBN partnership is projected to help deliver fast, simple, and cost-effective eNaira banking services to all Nigerians using the USSD channel, eliminating the need for data and available on all handsets.

Speaking on the partnership, Uzo Nwani, Clickatell commercial director, West Africa, said introducing the USSD short code allows non-banked Nigerians, many of whom do not have smartphones, to access cashless banking services and is also a big win for the company’s stated goals of delivering meaningful financial inclusion.

“Clickatell’s role in making this a reality has been one of the most important achievements of our engagements in Nigeria,” she said.

The new USSD channel allows Nigerians using the *997# short code to create their eNaira wallet. Once this is done, they can easily check balances and transfer funds, as well as safely buy airtime or data for themselves or friends and family.

Safeguarding their wallets is also easy on the channel and users can check and update their information, change and reset their pins, or even block the wallet if necessary.

Kingsley Obiora, CBN deputy governor in charge of economic policy, said the USSD channel is a vital part of the apex bank’s journey towards realizing its financial inclusion vision.

“We see the eNaira as a leap forward in the evolution of money. Thus, CBN is working with partners who are committed to taking advantage of this new technology for continuous innovation towards delivering exciting new features,” Obiora stated.

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a communications protocol that is supported by 99 percent of GSM handsets, which remains particularly relevant in developing communities where it is used to provide services at a much lower cost and can be used without requiring access to the user’s SIM card.

Majority of Nigerians are currently using feature phones, making an excellent case for the USSD offering, despite the rapid growth of smartphones. Therefore, CBN is counting on the new channel making rapid inroads towards getting most of the 30 percent of unbanked Nigerians into the formal banking system.

As part of its efforts, the CBN is working hard to increase awareness and education around the new digital currency and has offered an incentive of 200eNGN airtime for the first 100,000 users to onboard using the eNaira USSD feature.

Nwani further said the Clickatell solution ideally positions the system for new and collaborative additions to help boost the eNaira services.

“Our Chat Flow product provides a robust platform to support rapid innovation. Digital currencies provide measurable customer benefits including lower costs and a simple user experience and adding new innovative features over time will definitely attract more customers,” she said.

Nwani also noted that the CBN has set the benchmark when it comes to financial inclusion in Africa and the company looks forward to being part of that journey through the partnership deal.