It was high level business intelligence roundtable conference in Lagos on Thursday, as e-Payment stakeholders; close ranks with the media and regulatory agencies to draw roadmap on how best to deepen the penetration of financial inclusion in Nigeria.
In his keynote address, the Director, BPSD at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Dipo Fatokun argued that knowledge-based economy everywhere in the world is powered by greater financial inclusion of the populace and called on stakeholders’ to work towards advancement of the platform.
Fatokun, represented by Adedeji Adebisi, Deputy Director, Development Finance Office at the apex bank, noted that the CBN has achieved must using the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) in capturing a high number of unbanked and under-banked into the fold of digital financial services.
In his presentation, Adebisi averred that key fundamentals’ in driving financial inclusion include financial access and literacy programmes, financial identity systems, mobile banking, consumer security, agent banking and micro-financing for individuals and growth of MSMEs.
Earlier, a top official of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc., Mr. Aituaz Kola-Oladejo in his presentation described the Nigerian Press as an integral part of the payment ecosystem based on their mass media capability, stressing that there is need to quickly identify areas of collaborations in the efforts to promote financial inclusion.
He listed key e-payment support platforms which need to be taken note of to include mobile phones, access points, Points of sales, policies, products and education.
In an exclusive interview with Business Hilights on the sidelines of the Workshop, the Director General of Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mr. Babatunde Irukera, observed that “One of the most important thing the CPC consider’s with respect to payment system is the need for very broad service agreement between payment system and companies they are representing so as to allow consumers have a choice on the e-payment system they wish to use at all times”.
Continuing, Irukera averred that “we are working to protect consumers’ experience in use of e-payment systems by guiding against wrong use of their personal data”.
However, the founder/publisher of Business Hilights, Nigeria’s leading business intelligence reporting media, Prince Stan Okenwa, made it clear that “Whereas the Press will continue to do more in deepening reportage to educate both the banked and under-banked in the society, it is the primary duties of financial services providers including the e-Payment firms and even the banks to drive financial inclusion awareness to the unbanked with simple and flexible e-payment products”.
In her welcome address, the conference convener and Executive Secretary of Electronic Payment Providers’ Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN), Ms. Onajite Regha noted that the essence of the First National Media Workshop with theme: ‘Promoting Digital Literacy to Enhance Public Confidence and Financial Inclusion’, called on stakeholders to collaborate in order to capture every Nigerian into the e-Payment net.
According to her, such feat will further create jobs in the industry and fasten Nigeria’s quest to upgrading to the target knowledge economy.
Other experts who made presentations at the workshop include Wole Ogunlade who spoke on behalf of VoguePay Group, Abdulrahaman Jogbojogbo of Paystack Group and Chief Deolu ogunbajo, digital consumers’ advocate and President of NATCOMS.
