Ekiti to Engage 1000 Youths for Agency Banking Programme

Worried by the exodus of banks from many areas in the state, the Ekiti State government has disclosed that it is taking financial services to all 177 wards in the state through agency banking.

It would be recalled that as a result of incessant bank robberies, many financial institutions have relocated from many local government areas in the state, leaving residents to travel to the state capital for banking transactions.

According to the government, the intending banks for the proposed programme include Wema, Stanbic IBTC, and First City Monument Bank (FCMB).

The state Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Kayode Fasae, made this known in Ado-Ekiti during an inter-ministerial meeting with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies that would play roles in the mobilisation of relevant stakeholders and participants for the programme.

Mr Fasae said the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment has delineated the state into 132 units in preparation for the commencement of the guided Agency Banking Programme in Ekiti state under which many unemployed youths would be empowered.

He described agency banking as a strategy in the financial industry that uses authorised agents to deliver financial services to customers living in remote areas and beyond the reach of the traditional branch network.

Mr Fasae said would-be beneficiaries are to form cluster groups before they can take part in the programme.

Relatedly, the commissioner also disclosed that the government would soon begin the collation of data on unemployed youths, market women, artisans, motorcycle riders, people with disabilities and other citizens between the ages of 18 and 50.

He said that every individual captured under the programme would have a unique means of identification, so they could easily be contacted whenever there are job opportunities and other empowerment opportunities.