Oyo to support CBN on financial inclusion

The Oyo State Government, on Thursday,  pledged its readiness to support the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in actualising the 80 per cent financial inclusion rate by year 2020.
The Secretary to the State Government, Olalekan Alli, made the pledge, while declaring open the inaugural meeting of Financial Inclusion State Steering Committee (FISSCO) meeting held at the CBN Office, in Ibadan.
Alli commended the CBN for recognising the importance of the state government in addressing the critical issue of financial inclusion that has continued to assume a global dimension.
“It is very important for every stakeholder to contribute to the success of this laudable initiative to further advance the economy of Nigeria as well as well-being of the people.
“Globally, policy-makers have turned their attention to financial inclusion as a veritable tool of development and have, therefore, seen it as a development priority.
“The relevance of the attention is the realisation that financial inclusion can help poor households improve upon their lives and spur economic activity.
“The CBN and other financial institutions should strengthen co-operative and thrift societies,as well as other associations to enable wider access to capital by stakeholders.
“Such would also help neighbourhood industries to further expand their coast and enrich our country’s economy.
“This will facilitate the actualisation of the target of 80 per cent financial inclusion by the year 2020,’’ he said.
Alli called on members of FISSCO to take the assignment as a call to service, urging them to invest their time and resources to the cause for the benefit of the people.
Earlier, the Branch Controller of CBN, in Ibadan, Mustafa Olatinwo, said the initiative was targeted at ensuring that 80 per cent or more of the adult population had access to financial services.
“The Nigeria National Financial Inclusion Strategy was launched to reduce the percentage of adult Nigerians excluded from access to financial services from 46.3 per cent in 2010 to 20 per cent in 2020,’’ he said.
Olatinwo stated that the cross-cutting and diverse nature of the targeted services require collaborative efforts by stakeholders in the financial sector, especially at the grassroots.
He called on members of the committee to support the state level arrangement, in order to achieve the objectives.