by Tunji Andrews
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, CON has restated the commitment of the Bank to ensuring the provision of affordable financial services to the low income and under-served active adult population.
Mr. Emefiele made the assertion in a keynote address at the 2014 Financial Inclusion Conference organized by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) held on December 2, 2014 at Eko Hotel, Lagos.
He said the commitment to financial inclusion was part of the Bank’s vision to become the model central bank delivering price and financial system stability and promoting sustainable economic development. Continuing, he said as part of the CBN’s commitment, a Financial Inclusion Secretariat has been set up in the Bank to coordinate the implementation of the Financial Inclusion Strategy.
The Conference, which unveiled the results of the 2014 Access to Financial Services Survey, provided insights into sustainable financial inclusion models in other parts of the world and how Nigeria could learn from them.
The Governor commended EFInA for its work towards promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria and thanked them for all the support the Central Bank of Nigeria had received in the implementation of its National Financial Inclusion Strategy. While noting that the journey to achieving Financial Inclusion was long, he expressed belief that the sustained efforts of the industry would go a long way towards reaching the financial inclusion goals and targets.
The CEO of EFInA, Ms Modupe Ladipo, in her remarks, revealed the result of the Access to Financial Services survey showing that the percentage of formally excluded adult Nigerians had reduced to 39.5%, stating that the figure was still relatively high due to the fact that 23% of adult Nigerians lacked formal education and less than 10% were salaried. She, however, expressed gladness that the percentage of adult Nigerians formally included in the financial system had increased to about 50%.
Highpoint of the conference was an award ceremony to celebrate institutions that had deepened financial inclusion in Nigeria. The CBN won the award of regulator that had deepened Financial Inclusion, while Accion Microfinance Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc were among other institutions that won awards.
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