The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hopes to achieve its 2020 financial inclusion target of getting at least 80 percent of Nigerian adults embrace the financial system, especially as it intensifies efforts and promotes financial literacy in schools.
In commemoration of the Global Money Week, the CBN again on Thursday took its financial literacy campaign to secondary schools across the country to educate school children about money, savings, investment, budgeting and entrepreneurial skills.
The campaign is one of those strategies the CBN has adopted not only to raise awareness on its cashless policy but reasonably increase financial inclusion levels in the country by educating particularly the children and youth about how money works.
Aisha Ahmad, CBN Deputy Governor in charge of Financial System Stability, led some CBN directors to visit some schools in Abuja where students were taught topics in financial literacy.
The schools visited were the Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 3, and the Staff Community Secondary School, Asokoro.
Global Money Week, an annual international money awareness celebration is an initiative of Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), a non-governmental, non-profit Organisation dedicated to promoting economic citizenship among children and youth between the ages of 8
and 18 all over the world. The theme of this year’s event was, “Learn, Save, Earn.”
During the week, children and youths are engaged in learning about how money works, the importance of savings, creating livelihoods, gaining employment, and entrepreneurship through fun and interactive activities.
Ahmad said it was necessary to teach the younger population about savings, investments and financial concepts from their early years rather than wait till they grow older.
She added that as economic citizens, children and the youths are expected to be financially capable, know their rights and responsibilities as members of the community and also have the
capacity to create sustainable livelihood for themselves.
“We are passionate about creating an economy that will benefit all Nigerians and to be able to do that everyone needs to be financially literate,” Ahmad said.
“They need to know the proper ways to earn money. Therefore, my message to all children today is do the right things, study hard, try and understand yourself, who you are, what you like to do and see how you can use that to change the world.
Interacting with the students, she conveyed key messages to empower the children and youths to learn to manage their money wisely – save and invest for their future.
She also spoke to them about the benefits of budgeting which she said would help the students gain control over their finances, build assets and create a healthy financial situation.
“Budgeting is about choices. Choose what to save for the future, what to spend now and what to spend on.
“Needs first, wants later,” she said. Ahmad also educated the children on the difference between good and bad debt.
She explained that incurring debts for things that would not improve one’s net worth such as vacations, clothes and eating out could undermine one’s financial goals, advising the students to invest time and resources on things that would create value for them.
Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja
