The Federal Government (FG) is set to attract up to 80% of Nigerian adult population in the formal financial services sector, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) disclosed.
The Director of Communication and Public Affairs Department, Sunday Oluyemi said that there was a need to address the challenges that were hindering financial inclusion for all.
He warned banks, fintechs and other stakeholders in the financial sector to address the challenges. He also emphasized that addressing the challenges would help the country to achieve its Vision 2020 target of reducing financial exclusion level to 20%.
Oluyemi said there were plans to provide financial literacy to the masses as he said it was important in achieving financial inclusion.
Oluyemi said that this would be taken to the poor and unbanked people through different services providers, including non-governmental organisations; cooperatives; community-based development institutions; commercial and microfinance banks; insurance and credit card companies, amongst others.
He further noted that achieving financial inclusion required access to and availability of financial services and that banks were uniquely positioned to provide the financial services.
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Why this matters: Although a lot of Nigerian banks have taken up the challenge of actualising financial inclusion for all in recent times, some people believe that the recent call by the government and banks was spurred by the emergence of financial technology companies whose approach to financial inclusion is not only radical but effective.
However, this is, no doubt, the right time for Nigerians to get fully integrated into the financial inclusion system. Therefore, as more opportunities to actualising the agenda become readily available, all concerned stakeholders should take advantage of it.
