The President and Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Prof. Segun Ajibola, has expressed displeasure on the status of Nigeria’s drive to financial inclusion, saying, fundamental enablers are far from being adequate.
In his submission after reviewing the 2016 yearly report of National Financial Inclusion Strategy Implementation (NFISI), he said three basic issues of infrastructure, product development and rebuilding of confidence are in high demand if reasonable percentage of financial inclusion will be met by 2020.
According to him, “For now, there is a challenge of infrastructure and you know the financial inclusion is driven by it. It has been on the table for long, but there is need to tackle it once for all time.
“We need to create enabling environment for people to have confidence in the banking system, not fear of financial crisis. But banks would also need to develop appropriate products and increase skills of workers to support micro businesses and reach out to rural areas.“The system is in search of these and without deliberate attempt to solve them, we may still remain with poor outcomes for a long time,” he said.
Business Hilights recalls that experts at a recent quarterly forum of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), in Lagos argued that the drive for financial inclusion is dropping in seriousness and that strategic action both by the government and the financial institutions are needed to step up the campaign.
