The Controller, Central Bank of Nigeria, Kaduna branch, Ahmed Muhammed Wali, has urged Nigerians to open bank accounts for the purpose of financial inclusion.
He mentioned this in an interview when he led a delegation to the government house to discuss the progress of the financial inclusion programme in Kaduna.
The Controller said, “The programme is a national strategy, which was established in 2012. It is meant to encourage about 80 per cent of Nigerians towards opening bank accounts by 2020.
“Every state is given a target, which requires collaborators and stakeholders to achieve, hence the need to update the state government on every progress made.”
Wali further explained, “The essence and benefit of the programme to Nigerians is for them to access loan to run businesses, inculcate saving attitudes and also improve their livelihood.
“The financial inclusion programme reduces poverty so I hereby call on all Nigerians to access bank accounts in order to access financial services, boost their businesses, wellbeing and economic power.
“The programme has recorded high acceptability, especially in the southern part of the country, but there is low acceptance of the programme in North East and West regions basically due to Islamic belief that prohibits loans with interest rates.”
He, however, assured that there were a few banks that provided products and services without interest rates, saying, even the CBN had a window for the provision of such services.
Wali said other barriers, which posed as challenges to the programme were the lack of accessibility of banks in rural areas, difficulty in opening bank accounts and the high rate of interest on loans.
The Controller called on Governor El-Rufai to support them with financial infrastructure in the rural areas in order to make accessibility easier and also appoint a liaison officer that would serve as an intermediary between government and the CBN.
On her part, Deputy Governor, Kaduna State, Hadiza Balarabe, applauded the CBN for initiating the programme, saying that it had helped people in accessing financial services for the betterment of their
lives.
“Kaduna State government has also encouraged women to access bank accounts by issuing 200million loan to women across the state. More than 70 per cent of the women did not have bank accounts prior to the loan disbursement. We will disburse N400 million this year and N800 million next year,” she
said.
