By Prince Okafor

In line with its moves to attain 94 per cent financial inclusion by 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) have outlined financial inclusion measures the formal financial sector operators should take to provide convenient products for the informal sector.

This is coming even as the WSBI disclosed its plan to include one million low income Nigerians into the formal financial system by August 2022.

Speaking at the WSBI’s Scale2Save event which was supported by the Nigerian Microfinance Platform (NMP), EFInA and Mastercard Foundation in Lagos yesterday, the Head, Financial Inclusion Secretariat at CBN, Paul Oluikpe, said savings in any economic configuration is basically a key driver of growth and is a key function of the apex bank’s economic policy for national productivity.

Oluikpe noted that the CBN is focused on bringing everyone in the inclusive net and ensuring that it captures data from the monetary policy and plan for the economy but added that the formal segment of the financial services sector cannot alone fill the gaps found in the inclusive net.

Citing a 2019 report, Oluikpe explained that the challenges of bringing women on-board in the formal financial sector include lack of trust, education and income to interact with formal financial services.

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“We must also know that formal financial services players are really not having the products that will be able to reach these individuals at the very grassroot because the products are not convenient for these people and so there is need for fundamental change to bring them on board” he said.

On her part, the Programme Director, Scale2Save at WSBI, Weselina Angelow, called for a joint effort from stakeholders to seek ways of connecting the formal financial services to the informal sector.

According to her, “1.7 billion people globally remain excluded from formal financial services and the WSBI strives to change it. Scale2Save is WSBI’s current programme on financial inclusion- aimed at empowering low-income people working in Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, Uganda and Senegal.

“Our goal is to include one million low-income people, especially youths, women, and farmers into the formal financial system by August 2022.”

Vanguard News Nigeria