Nigeria still million miles from financial inclusion target – CBN report

Nigeria’s financial inclusion stands below 40% in 2019

Nigeria’s central bank had set out to get at least 8 in 10 Nigerians to use banking services by the end of 2020, but few months to the end of the year, the apex bank is still far from meeting that target.

According to a report by CBN and the Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access, EFInA, Nigeria’s financial inclusion still stands at 36 per cent for women and 24 per cent for men.

The report titled ‘Assessment of women’s financial inclusion in Nigeria’ for December 2019 period was released on Monday.

“Not surprisingly, Nigeria financial exclusion stands at 36 per cent for women and 24 per cent for men. The relative gender gap related to financial inclusion is ~20-30 per cent, placing Nigeria below its peers.

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“Since 2012, although women’s exclusion has dropped, the gender gap has grown, revealing that men’s inclusion has improved more rapidly than women’s.

“The National Financial Inclusion Strategy was launched in 2012 to reduce financial exclusion to 20 per cent of the adult population.

“However, according to the revised NFIS, Nigeria is not on track to achieve its 2020 targets,” the report stated.

The report said progress towards Nigeria financial inclusion had been adversely affected by unforeseen socioeconomic factors such as recession, the precarious security situation in parts of northern Nigeria, and other factors such as slow uptake of digital financial services.