Yemisi Izuora
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has offered an enlightenment opportunities to residents of Kwali Area Council of Abuja on the meaning and essence of financial inclusiveness, as it continues its campaign to help the country achieve 80 per cent financial inclusion by 2020.
The Acting Director-General of the commission, Ms. Mary Uduk, in her opening remarks, urged the residents who throng the Council’s multipurpose hall to embrace the initiative which she said is to ensure that various products at affordable costs are made available to the excluded. The campaign had been done in Karshi, Bwari, Kuje Area Councils and University of Abuja by SEC.
“I ‘d like to invite all of you who are yet to enroll for E-dividend to hurriedly approach your Bankers/Registrars to enable your dividends be electronically sent to your account,”
Uduk who was represented by Mr Frank Okafor an Assistant director in the commission said.
In his goodwill message on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Hilary Ewubor of the Strategy Coordination Office in the financial inclusion secretariat of the CBN said financial inclusion has direct link with economic growth and rural development.
Mr Ewubor recalled how the Central bank has been able to penetrate a larger number of the unbanked community through different intervention programmes (in its financial inclusion drive).
Ewubor encouraged people at the grassroots to go into formation of cooperatives to be able to access the many intervention funds of the central bank that include Accelerated Agricultural Development Programme – an advanced Anchor Borrowers’ scheme, targeted at the youth.
He said as part of efforts to make the campaign an all-inclusive one, the CBN is opening banking halls, using NIPOST as agents in its bid to bring banking operations to rural dwellers.
Representative of the National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Dr (Mrs) Hyeladzira Ochonogor while assuring the people of security of their deposits and investments, categorically told them “your money will not loss. Your monies are secured with NDIC.” She encouraged them to open bank accounts to benefit in the numerous advantages of modern financial market. “Your money in the bank helps to grow the economy,” she added.