The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emiefele, says about 40 percent of Nigerians do not have access to financial services.
Emiefele disclosed this in Benin during the bank’s workshop titled, “Promoting Financial Stability and Economic Development” for farmers, artisans, youths, MSMEs, SMEs, students and stakeholders.
Represented by the Deputy Director, Banking and Payment System, Sam Okojere, the governor said CBN’s target was to reduce non-financial inclusion by 20 percent before year 2020. Emiefele said about 40 percent of Nigerians were not financially included, but with the advent of the improvement of telecommunications equipment like mobile phones, non-financial inclusion will reduce by 20 percent before 2020.
According to him, the banking sector has improved to the extent that one can buy and transfer money with the phone and ATMs can be used to pay for goods.
Emiefele, however, said the CBN was currently discussing with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to allow telecommunications set up a special vehicle unit which he said would ensure that more Nigerians have access to banking services.