The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin I. Emefiele, has restated the bank’s commitment to ensuring the provision of affordable financial services to low income and underserved active adult population.
Emefiele made the assertion in a keynote address at the 2014 Financial Inclusion Conference organised by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) held last Tuesday in Lagos.
He said the commitment to financial inclusion was part of CBN’s vision to become the model central bank delivering price and financial system stability and promoting sustainable economic development, pointing out that a Financial Inclusion Secretariat has been set up in the bank to coordinate implementation of its Financial Inclusion Strategy.
The conference, which unveiled the results of the 2014 Access to Financial Services Survey, provided insights into sustainable financial inclusion models in other parts of the world and how Nigeria could learn from them.
Emefiele commended EFInA for its work towards promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria and for supporting the CBN in the implementation of its National Financial Inclusion Strategy. He stated that although the journey to achieving Financial Inclusion was long, and that the sustained efforts of the industry would go a long way towards reaching the goals and targets of the project.
Meanwhile, the CEO of EFInA, Ms Modupe Ladipo, later unveiled the result of the Access to Financial Services survey, which show that the percentage of formally excluded adult Nigerians had reduced to 39.5 per cent, stating that the figure was still relatively high due to the fact that 23 per cent of adult Nigerians lacked formal education and less than 10 per cent are in paid employment. She, however, stated that the good news was that the percentage of adult Nigerians formally included in the financial system had increased to about 50 per cent.
The conference ended with an award ceremony to celebrate institutions that had deepened financial inclusion in Nigeria. The CBN won the award of regulator that had deepened Financial Inclusion, while Accion Microfinance Bank and Guarantee Trust Bank Plc were among other institutions that won awards.

CBN committed to deepening financial inclusion –Emefiele