The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is collaborating with some agencies such as the Nigeria Communication commission (NCC) on getting addition data of customers who are taking credit from the financial institutions.
Aishah Ahmad, CBN’s deputy governor, financial system stability, disclosed this in Lagos at the Union Bank’s maiden Edu 360 Conference in Lagos.
Ahmad, who chairs the national inclusion technical committee of which National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is one of the representatives, said the commission was trying to improve the level of registration of Nigerians.
“Every Nigerian having a national identity remains the national objective. They are going t be using other stakeholders like BVN. BVN has had a huge capacity. We have signed on about 40 billion and what NIMC has done is to define standard for all these,” Ahmad said.
She acknowledged that statistics say about 63.2 percent of Nigerians were financially included, and “if you break that down to number of people that are taking credit, it is very low. Part of the challenge is data on credit. We are also trying to do some work with other agencies including the NCC on how we can get additional data for those that are taking credit.
“For us at financial regulators, we are trying to promote financial stability, economic development. At the core financial stability is inclusion. There is a nexus between inclusion, financial education, economic development so that we understand a bigger picture of financial inclusion/literacy.”
She said the CBN had come up with the consumer protection framework and was coming out with more three guidelines around transparency.
There is a dispute framework and complaints framework that save the right of bank customer, she said, saying, “Underpinning all of these is that education is why this digital matters. We can put all the guidelines/framework we want; if people do not know their right it is not going to be fair. We are open to feedback, collaboration. We work with a lot of different interest groups.”
Speaking at the ceremony to mark the kick-off of the three-day event, Emeka Emuwa, managing director/CEO, Union Bank plc, reiterated the bank’s focus on education as a key driver of national development. He said, “Our goal over the next three days here at Edu360 is to drive conversations and collaboration that will catalyse action necessary to move our education sector forward. We understand that scaling up government spending on public education is imperative, but to actually move the needle and drive impact, we believe the key is creating scope for private investments in the sector.”
Delivering the keynote on behalf of the Vice President, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, minister of state for education, said, “It is possible for us as a country to restore education to its place – not juxtaposed by entrepreneurship or wealth creation; not looked down upon by certain groups in our society but embraced by all – working assiduously to deliver our respective responsibilities to empower our children and indeed, the future of our dear country Nigeria.”
