As the financial inclusion project of the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] continued to gather steam in Nigeria and across the globe among firms, policy-makers and the media, the project is having a positive effect on disadvantaged Nigerians, ass such companies that are delivering financial inclusion-focused services would be honoured at IFINCA.
Sola Fanawopo, Editor-in-Chief of Financialtechnoologyafrica.com, made this pronouncement in a statement.
Fanawopo said the various stakeholders that are reinventing and pushing the boundaries of financial inclusion services towards ensuring that the CBN’s objectives are attained would be recognised and rewarded for their achievements at an event organised by Inclusive Financial Nigeria Conference and Awards [IFINCA] in November.
IFINCA is organised by financialtechnologyafrica.com, Africa’s prime news channel on financial technology, which publishes news, case studies concerning technologies that power the provision of financial services. It also focuses on electronic banking, electronic payment, insurtech, lendtech, wealthtech and regtech. It is owned by eMaginations.
Themed Financial Inclusion: Is it time to reinvent and push the boundaries, IFINCA would have the Head, Financial Inclusion Secretariat, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Attah Joseph deliver a keynote address at the plenary session where financial inclusion advocates would tell their stories and over 20 stakeholders would be honoured under 43 award categories.
Some of these stakeholders include LAPO, Grooming Centre, Remita Data Referencing System, MTN Nigeria, Lagos Business School, Innovectives, Carbon, E-Settlement Limited, SANEF and Precise Financial Systems among others.
He highlighted that these stakeholders would be recognised for their achievements towards pushing the boundaries of the financial inclusion project. Some of the awards categories include best non-banking loan platform, best telecommunication loan, fastest-growing financial software company and best use blockchain technologies for financial inclusion among others.
He pointed that as a result of the CBN’s expansion programme, the importance of financial inclusion as a tool for economic development in terms of “poverty alleviation, employment generation, wealth creation and improvement of welfare and the general standard of living cannot be overemphasized”.
The CBN in collaboration with the stakeholders launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy on October 23, 2012, to reduce the exclusion rate to 20% by the year 2020. He reiterated that working with these stakeholders, the CBN had cut the exclusion rate in Nigeria from 53.0 % in 2008 to 46.3 % in 2010.
The apex bank had specified that adult Nigerians with access to payment services is planned to increase from 21.6% in 2010 to 70% in 2020, while those with access to savings should increase from 24.0% to 60%; and credit from 2% to 40%, insurance from1% to 40% and pensions from 5% to 40%, within the same period.
