CBN Says COVID-19 and Insecurities Slow Down Financial Inclusion Program for 2020

A report released on Monday by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access has revealed that Nigeria is far behind in its pursuit of financial inclusion target for the year.

In the report titled “Assessment of women’s financial inclusion in Nigeria” for December 2019 period released yesterday, September 28, 2020, financial exclusion stands at 36 percent for women while it stood at 24 percent for men.

However, despite the decline in the financial exclusion of women, the report noted that financial inclusion has not really improved and the gap between women and men has grown due to COVID-19 and insecurities in the North part of the country.

Also, the report noted that the financial inclusion gap between women and men in Nigeria stood at 20 to 30, placing the nation below its peers.

The report reads in part, “Not surprisingly, 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.

“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 added that the progress towards a broad-based financial inclusion had been slowed down enormously by a series of unforeseen socioeconomic factors, the security situation in Northern Nigeria, COVID-19 and slow adoption of digital financial services.