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The MD/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Segun Agbaje has made a strong case for the financial inclusiveness of Nigeria’s adult population to attain enhance GDP growth rate and significantly boost the economy.

While delivering his keynote address at the just concluded webinar organized by SANEF in partnership with NIBSS and Business Day, with the theme: Accelerating Financial Inclusion Through Collaboration, he stated that the wealth of Nigeria no longer lies in oil but it’s population which is young, vibrant and hardworking.

The virtual event which had Mrs Aishah Ahmad (Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Central Bank of Nigeria) as the special guest and Ronke Kuye (CEO, SANEF) as the host, was moderated by Lehle Balde (Senior Associate, Strategy Innovation & Partnerships, Business Day) and had seasoned panellists that comprised of Toyin Adeniji (Executive Director, Microenterprises, Bank of Industry), Dr. Paul Oluikpe (Associate Head, Financial Inclusion Secretariat, CBN), Robert Giles (Senior Banking Advisor, Retail Banking, Access Bank Plc), Degbola Abudu, MD/CEO, Capricorn Digital), Anup Singh (Partner, Microsave Consulting), Titilola Shogaolu (Divisional CEO, Interswitch Financial Inclusion Services) and Isa Omagu (Director, Marketing and Sales, Unified Payments).

Underscoring the importance of financial inclusion in Nigeria, Segun Agbaje stated that, “We have about 99 to 100 million adult Nigerians, and if I take the bank accounts we have which is, give or take around 40 million. It therefore means that we’ve been running this economy and growing the GDP with only 40% of the adult population. Yes, the cynics would say the 40% are the wealthy ones, but that really is true, because the wealth of Nigeria no longer lies in oil; the wealth of Nigeria lies in it’s population. And for Nigeria to attain the kind of GDP growth that the government would like, we must bring those 60 million people into the formal system. And if we do not put the 60 million people into the formal sector, we will continue to have this GDP growth that a lot of times is below even our population growth”.

While drawing a distinction between financial inclusiveness for actual economic growth and the mere emphasis on mobile wallet, he stated that, “Then again am now going to go to what’s normally very controversial as far as financial inclusion goes in Nigeria. One other thing that I believe if not bias is that financial inclusion is not mobile wallet, financial inclusion is not Cash-in/Cash-out. Cash-in/Cash-out cannot give you the type of GDP growth and inclusiveness you need for a lower population”.

He further emphasized that, “For you to have proper financial inclusion, you must create an account which is probably free. That account must give people access to loan, it must give them access to insurance, it must give them access to pensions. After you do all these things, you begin to create a class of people who truly would contribute to the wealth and growth of the country. If what you are doing is only Cash-in/Cash-out, honestly you are not really including people and you are really not going to get any growth. The multiplier effect of getting people into the system outside of Cash-in/Cash-out is what we really need in Nigeria”.

On the need for effective collaboration across the entire ecosystem, Segun Agbaje stated that, “The other thing though is that I do believe that we need collaboration for financial inclusion in Nigeria. But I think we must anchor it on core banking services and leverage mobile technology to deliver it”.

“On our own part, we have tried to do loans to SMEs, quick credits, zero balances, to get to the bottom of the pyramid as far as we can. But the reality of it is that one of the biggest impediments to people opening accounts is the cost, which is why we need to leverage technology to significantly reduce access”, he said.

On a note of finality, he stated that, “I just want to leave you with one thing, that financial inclusiveness is critical, we must collaborate, we must anchor it on core banking services leveraging mobile technology. I think if we do that very well, we would create an economy that is functioning like it’s on steroids”.

“Am not one of those people who think oil is the most valuable resource in Nigeria anymore. I think the most valuable resource in Nigeria is the population we have, it’s young, it’s vibrant, it’s hardworking. If we harness and unleash the potential of these 99million people then we will actually be able to get oil and build an economy that is functioning like it’s on steroids”, he submitted.

SANEF is an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), supported by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) and Licensed Mobile Money Operators/Shared Agents with the objective of accelerating financial inclusion in Nigeria.

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