Court orders eNaira Payment Solutions to drop Naira from its name and the ruling did not come gently. A Federal High Court in Abuja just permanently barred the company from calling itself the owner of the “eNaira” trademark. Then the judge added a ₦10 million penalty and told them to change their name immediately. No more Naira. No more confusion. The Central Bank of Nigeria just won a fight it was never going to lose.
Justice James Omotosho delivered the judgment on Friday. The company had been using the name since 2004. Two decades. That longevity did not save them. The judge said the name was misleading from the start. An average person on the street would assume the company is either government-owned or backed by the CBN. That assumption was the entire problem.
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The CBN argued that allowing a private company to control a name so closely tied to Nigeria’s legal tender was dangerous. The court agreed. eNaira is too close to Naira. A digital currency bearing that name would create the impression that it is an official digital form of the national currency. The judge called it disastrous for the economy. Surrendering Nigerian sovereignty to a private entity. Those are not soft words from a bench.
The company did not go down without a fight. It sued in 2021. It asked for ₦90.1 billion in damages. It claimed the defendants were trying to unconstitutionally take over its personal property. The CBN fired back with a counter-claim seeking ₦20 billion for the global embarrassment the company caused by claiming ownership of something it never owned. The court dismissed the company’s entire case and ruled in favor of the CBN and the Corporate Affairs Commission.
CAC had already directed the company to change its name in December 2021. The company had six weeks to comply. It never did. That defiance just cost them in court.
The judge was clear. The company has no legal right to the eNaira trademark. The Trademark Registry canceled its acceptance letters back in November 2021 because eNaira is a national intellectual property and a symbol of Nigeria. A private company cannot assert control over it.
The order is permanent. The name must change. No more Naira in the title. The company is restrained from ever parading itself as the registered proprietor of the trademark again. The digital future of Nigeria’s currency belongs to the CBN. The court just made sure nobody gets confused about that.
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Digital currency with “Naira” in the name will always belong to Nigeria. Private companies take note
eNaira sounds EXACTLY like something the government would launch. That was never going to fly in court
The judge saying allowing this would be “surrendering Nigerian sovereignty” is the coldest line in the whole ruling
The court dismissed EVERYTHING the company asked for and granted EVERYTHING the CBN asked for. Clean sweep
Justice Omotosho didn’t just rule. He delivered a lecture on sovereignty and digital currency while closing the case
This ruling is going to be cited for decades whenever private companies try to trademark national assets
₦90 billion in damages claim rejected and instead they get fined ₦10 million?? The turnaround is brutal
CAC gave them six weeks to comply in 2021. They did nothing for years. The arrogance is actually impressive
Imagine an average Nigerian seeing “eNaira Payment Solutions” and thinking it’s CBN-backed. That was literally the scam
Company was told to change the name in 2021. They ignored it. Now 2026 they’re paying ₦10 million and changing it anyway. Pride is expensive
CBN asking for ₦20 billion for “global embarrassment” is peak energy. They were not playing around
They really went to court asking for ₦90 billion and left owing ₦10 million. Somebody check on their lawyers 😭
This is why you don’t name your private business after national currency. Common sense is free
eNaira company thought they could lock down a name tied to Nigeria’s currency and the court said NO. 20 years meant nothing 😂
CBN 1 – eNaira Payment Solutions 0. Case closed. Name change loading