Financial Literacy in Nigeria Still Poor – SEC

• Financial Literacy in Nigeria Still Poor

The Securities and Exchange Commission has described as poor the level of financial literacy in Nigeria, hence its recent move to carry its awareness campaign to different parts of the country.

In line with its determination to close the financial literacy gap in the nation, the commission said it would be deepening the level of awareness about the Nigerian capital market.

SEC, in a statement on Sunday, said the move was in alignment with the forthcoming World Savings Day celebration by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the entire financial sector.

The regulator said it was doing this through the Technical Committee on the Financial Literacy Week, comprising representatives of the regulatory bodies, capital market operators and the media.

The Chairperson, TCFLW, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Sanni, in the statement, said plans were in top gear to hold special programmes across the geo-political zones of the country, to coincide with the World Savings Day.

She said to begin with, multiple fora would be held in Kano State to represent the northern zone, Port Harcourt (Rivers State) to represent the southern zone and Abeokuta (Ogun State) for the western zone.

“The literacy drive and awareness campaign will be extended to other locations as we move on. However, we are beginning with these three locations and this will commence from October 31 to November 4,” she said.

Specifically, the event will hold in Kano on October 31, Port Harcourt on November 2, and Abeokuta on November 4.

Sanni, who said the literacy drive and awareness campaign was in line with the Capital Market 10-Year Master- Plan of the commission, noted that it was very necessary, considering the generally low level of financial literacy and capital market awareness across the country.

According to her, in Nigeria, financial illiteracy, among other factors, can be said to have contributed to the crash of the capital market in 2008/2009.

“The public is largely unfamiliar with the workings and benefits of the capital market. The loss of investor confidence in the market due to the crisis that hit the banking industry and capital market some years back, partly resulted from lack of financial knowledge,” Sanni said.