CBN Targets 95% Financial Inclusion by 2024

Thursday April 01, 2021 / 2:23 PM / By CBN /Header Image Credit: CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday, 29thSeptember 2020 launched the Framework for Advancing Women's Financial Inclusionin Nigeria.

The Launch which took place virtually, had 170participants in attendance from partner institutions from across the world andwas chaired by Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, the CBN's Deputy Governor, Financial SystemStability. The Keynote address was delivered by the Honorable Minister of WomenAffairs and Social Development who was represented by her Special Adviser,Princess Joan Jummai Idonijie. In his opening remarks, Mr. Phillip Yusuf Yila -Director, Development Finance Department of the CBN thanked all contributors tothe Framework for their dedication and commitment and highlighted the 'Power ofParity' report by McKinsey which projected a $28 trillion addition to globalannual GDP by 2025 from gender equality initiatives. He stated that theimprovement of women's participation across the agricultural value chain andclosing the gender gap in agricultural financing were in the front burner ofthe bank's development financing agenda.

Similarly,key partners like Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) and theWomen's World Banking (WWB) also provided insights into their roles insupporting the process of documenting the critical imperatives to drivingwomen's financial inclusion in Nigeria. This was followed by a ceremony tounveil the Framework by Mrs. Amina Umar, Head of the Financial InclusionSecretariat (FIS). A Technical Panel Session on efforts to drive women'sfinancial inclusion in Nigeria was moderated by Mr. Ade Ashaye, the ExecutiveVice President of WWB. Panelists included: Mrs. Ambah Hamda - MD/CEO, FSDHMerchant Bank and Chairperson of the Bankers Committee subcommittee on EconomicDevelopment, Sustainability and Gender, Mrs. Ronke Kuye - CEO, Shared AgentNetwork Expansion Facilities Limited (SANEF), Mrs. Ijeoma Nwagwu - FacultyMember, Lagos Business School and Gender Lead, Sustainable and InclusiveDigital Financial Services (SIDFS) and Mrs. Oladoyin Olawaiye - Component Lead,Sustainable Economic Development Programme (SEDIN), GIZ.

Thepanel session featured discussions on how financial services providers canbetter develop products and services suitable for women; improving the numberof female agents in the field and its critical role in helping women buildtrust in financial services providers, the need for continuous financialliteracy to build women's capabilities, and the development of sustainable,gender-centric models to cater to low income and financially excluded women inthe country. The panelists were unanimous in calling for regulators to mandategender-disaggregated data from financial services providers in order to informbetter policy decisions. Technical presentations were made during the launch,including a presentation on the Assessment of Women's Financial Inclusion inNigeria, delivered by Mrs. Ashley Immanuel ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ Ag. CEO, EFInA and a presentationon the '8' (eight) Strategic Imperatives for driving Women's Financial Inclusion by Mrs. Njideka Nwabukwu - Head, GenderDesk, FIS-CBN as well the Implementation Roadmap by Ms. Sophia Abu - FinancialInclusion Gender Specialist, FIS-CBN. Dr. Paul Oluikpe, Associate Head, FIS-CBNfacilitated an interactive session with the panelists and paper presenters.During this session, participants engaged the panelists on specifics arounddigital financial literacy for northern women and testing pilot schemes forimpact evaluation of efforts to drive women's financial inclusion.

Thelaunch of the Framework is a critical step in the efforts of the Central Bankof Nigeria towards closing the 8.5% financial inclusion gender g0ap in Nigeriaand achieving 95% financial inclusion by 2024. Accordingly, a Community ofPractice (COP) model has been adopted to engage all relevant stakeholders inthe implementation of the strategic imperatives in the Framework.