Best bet in financial inclusion, poverty reduction is Mobile money banking—CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has once again maintained that the best option to drive away poverty, boost financial inclusion and advance financial technology is the penetration of mobile money transaction platform.
This was reechoed by the Head, Financial Inclusion Secretariat (FIS) at CBN, Temitope Akin Fadeyi, at the second yearly conference of the Association of Mobile Money Agents in Nigeria (AMMAN), held recently in Lagos.
Represented by the Senior Statistician, CBN, George Ogudu, she averred that mobile money banking will positively impact financial inclusion, enhance technological activities in the rural areas, increase economic involvement and reduce poverty.
She added further that to grow Mobile Money and Agent (MMA) banking in Nigeria, MMAs should be seen as a cogent channel for financial inclusion.
According to her, “The quicker the poor and low income earners are willing to adopt MMA Banking because it is cheap, accessible and secure, the deeper the access to financial services in the rural area and the better the life of people in that income bracket”.
Fadeyi therefore urged MMAs to visit the consumer protection service desk of the CBN whenever they are not properly attended to, or harassed by commercial banks and to read the CBN laws meant for MMAs in order to get better service, and know how to improve their businesses.
Giving insights on the imports of the conference, AMMAN President, Olojo Victor, noted that “This conference confers on us the opportunity to re-evaluate and re-examine our approach so far and most importantly gain new knowledge and insight of the newest trends in the digital finance markets and the many opportunities that are open to agents across the country.
“For us, seeing more unbanked Nigerians access basic financial services and solving their basic financial problems isn’t just a money scheme, but a thing of passion and excitement and we are training agents in other to achieve that”, Olojo added.
