The Nation Newspaper

Tag: financial

  • How financial inclusion can boost women entrepreneurship, others

    How financial inclusion can boost women entrepreneurship, others

    Women comprise 40 per cent of the world’s workforce. About 30 to 37 per cent of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are also women-owned. Despite these, discriminatory gender policies and lack of finance continue to stifle the growth of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria and other emerging markets. With unmet financial needs estimated at between $260 billion and $320 billion a year, for women-owned businesses, experts are calling for action. Assistant Editor OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports.

    They are reports that should spur the authorities and development experts to action with a view to addressing the imbalance therein. For instance, the World, Bank’s ‘Gender at Work Report (2014) asserts that “on virtually every global measure, women are more economically excluded than men”.

    Also, the Global Findex, a comprehensive database measuring how people save, borrow, and manage risks in 148 countries, revealed that women are less likely than men to have formal bank accounts.

    Giving more details, the report said in Nigeria and other developing economies, women are 20 per cent less likely than men to have an account at a formal financial institution and 17 per cent less likely to have borrowed formally in the past year.

    The report added that even if women can gain access to a loan, they often lack access to other financial services such as savings, digital payment methods, and insurance.

    The report added that restrictions on opening a bank account, such as requirements for a male family member’s permission, restrict women’s access to accounts. It also said that lack of financial education can also limit women from gaining access to and benefitting from financial services.

    In addition, many women may have access to financial services in name only. Although, accounts might be opened in the name of a woman, the decision-making authority around the use of those funds often lies with a male relative.

    These obvious discriminations against women, according to the Principal Consultant, TMC, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, persist despite that women are known to be better mangers of human and material resources.

    Mrs. Mabogunje said the neglect of women in policy formulation and implementation has made it impossible to achieve gender equality. She insisted that there is the need to empower all women and girls by ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable economic and inclusive growth for women.

    She also canvassed the need to ensure fair and progressive tax systems by addressing explicit and implicit gender biases in tax policies. She said tax incentives should be provided to support ownership of assets and property by women, while also ensuring that women are properly integrated or closely linked to national sustainable development strategies.

    “There is need for government to prioritise investments in accessible, affordable and quality social infrastructure and essential services that reduce and redistribute women’s unpaid care and domestic work to enable their full participation in the economy,” the consultant said, at the Second African Women’s Economic Summit held in Lagos recently.

    According to experts, many of the sectors critical for economic growth rely heavily on women. Apart from the fact that women make up 40 per cent of the world’s workforce, about 30 to 37 per cent of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are female-owned.

    This translates to about eight to 10 million women-owned firms in Nigeria and other emerging markets. However, the snag, experts note, is that discriminatory gender policies and lack of finance have continued to stifle the growth and development of women entrepreneurship.

    For instance, experts estimate that there are unmet financial needs of between $260 billion and $320 billion a year for women-owned businesses. They note that access to credit can open up economic opportunities for women, while bank accounts can be a gateway to the use of additional financial services.

    The experts are emphatic that women entrepreneurs and employers face significantly greater challenges than men in gaining access to financial services. And this was what the Second African Women’s Economic Summit set out to address.

    Delivering a paper entitled: “Increasing Women’s Access to Finance: Challenges and Opportunities, the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Emir of Kano, Sanusi  Lamido Sanusi, stated that legal regulations and customary rules often restrict women’s access and control over assets that can be accepted as collateral such as land or livestock.

    He further stated that women are less likely to have land titles under their name, even when their families own land, and are also less likely than men to have control over land, even when they do formally own it. He expressed regrets that biased inheritance rights often bestow land to male relatives, leaving both widows and daughters at a disadvantage.

    Emir Sanusi is not done. He pointed out that cultural norms and family responsibilities have profound effects on the type of economic activities that women can engage in, the technologies available to them, the people and agencies with whom they can interact with, the places they can visit, the time they have available and the control they can exert over their own resources.

    He is in a priviledged position to know many of these odds against women. Apart from his position as Emir of Kano, the custodian of the culture and tradition of the ancient kingdom, he understands the nitty-gritty of the nation’s economy, having been a former CBN governor. This was perhaps, why, at the summit, he frowned at some lending practices that emerge as a result of financial institutions’ lack of knowledge to offer products tailored to women’s preferences and constraints.

    The Emir, therefore, suggested that in line with World Bank’s insistence to ensure that the full potential benefits of financial inclusion for women are secured, there should be advisory assistance and lending support for women. He said such support should come in the form of increased access to finance and markets by partnering with developing countries and financial institutions within those countries.

    He also called for reducing gender-based barriers in the business environment, and the creation of business opportunities for institutions and in the private sector to improve working conditions for female employees, market segmentation, and inclusion of women in community relationships.

    Besides, there is a need to support business skills and financial capability trainings for women, while also building the business case for equal economic opportunities for men and women.

    Some initiatives to boost women’s access to finance

    The Federal Government some years back launched the Public Works and Women/Youth Empowerment Scheme (PW/WYE). The programme is a component of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) targeted at generating about 370,000 jobs across the country and also creating employment opportunities for women and youth in labour intensive public works.

    Specifically, the programme, which was in partnership with the states, local governments and the private sector, was expected to generate 50,000 skilled jobs and 320,000 unskilled job opportunities. To boost the scheme, the government set aside some portion of the partial subsidy on petroleum prices removal proceeds to support the employment generation intervention nationwide.

    There is also the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWiN) Programme to generate jobs by encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youths in Nigeria. The programme was set up to develop and execute business ideas of young Nigerians that will create jobs.

    It also provides aspiring youths with a platform to showcase their business acumen, skills and aspirations to business leaders, investors and mentors in Nigeria.

    Private sector funds to the rescue

    Apart from PW/WYE and YouWiN, a number of private sector initiatives to assist women and youth entrepreneurs have also been launched. For instance, President of Dangote Group Alhaji Aliko Dangote has partnered with Bank of Industry (BoI) to set up a N5 billion Small and Medium scale Enterprises fund to grant low interest loans to entrepreneurs and small businesses in Nigeria.

    According to the industrialist, “the funds are expected to impact directly on up to 13,000 registered groups in the country. Each group shall have an average of 20 entrepreneurs, thus impacting the lives of up to 250,000 micro-entrepreneurs through job creation, spreading across all the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.”

    The Tony Elumelu Foundation also launched a $100m Pan-African Entrepreneurship Initiative, which is a multi-year programme of training, funding, and mentoring, designed to empower the next generation of African entrepreneurs.

    “I am determined to ensure that Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs have the platform they need to turn their entrepreneurial aspirations into sustainable businesses that will drive economic growth and job creation across Africa,” the Foundation’s Chairman Tony Elumelu said at the programme launch.

    Similarly, since its inception, the Shell LiveWIRE Nigeria has provided 2,748 young people with funding to start and grow their businesses.The fund is mostly targeted at young entrepreneurs from Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States by Shell LiveWIRE Nigeria to enable them start up, or grow, their own businesses.

    However, for these initiatives to make the desired impacts, the Emir urged policymakers on the need to establish an enabling environment that will facilitate access to financial services for women entrepreneurs through the development of a supportive legal and regulatory framework, and the development of education and training opportunities that are more aligned with the specific needs of women.

    Hear him: “Skilled women are likely to access finance more easily. Therefore, a necessary step in enhancing finance for women should be to ensure an upscale of their leadership, technical, entrepreneurial and managerial skills. An important priority for governments should be increasing the enrolment of girls across all levels of education complemented by efforts to improve the quality of education that they receive.”

    Emir Sanusi reiterated that while it is important to build the capacity of financial institutions to better serve women entrepreneurs, it is also imperative that women are provided with the opportunity to be financially literate, so that they can speak the language of finance.

    The former CBN boss noted that it will be pertinent to explore the possibility of enacting laws that address gender inequality, sexual harassment and discrimination as first step towards improving their access to financial services.

    He lamented that those who have formal sector jobs are constrained by the reproductive roles they play. According to him, majority of women occupy low level posts that offer them the flexibility they need to manage their households while working in the formal sector.

    “They (women) spend most of their time doing unpaid household work, which undermines their business potential, he added.

  • Report: Financial inclusion ‘still a challenge in Africa’s low income communities’

    Africa’s financial environment is as competitive as other developing and high income regions in some countries, but access to finance remains a challenge, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales  (ICAEW).

    In its report, Economic Insight: Africa Q3 2016, the accountancy and finance body notes that whilst some countries have excellent financial soundness access to credit remains a challenge for many Africans.

    The report undertakes a comparative review of the financial systems and regulations in Africa relative to the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. It compares indicators of the financial environment (including credit metrics, risk evaluation and monetary policy), as well as regulation and supervision standards.

    The report looks at the role financing can play in economic development across the continent, and likely developments in the cost of financing in the coming years. In 2016 rankings, Rwanda performed best in SSA in terms of getting credit, followed by Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Mauritius and Uganda. This likely stems from the fact that Rwanda has made six reforms to facilitate getting credit during the 2010-16 period, strengthening borrowers’ and lenders’ collateral laws.

    However, Regional Director, ICAEW Middle East, Africa and South Asia, Michael Armstrong, notes that “financial inclusion remains low in Africa. According to him while many of Sub-saharan Africa’s population have access to a formal banking system, in low income communities the degree to which individuals can access financial services is limited, especially when considering the limited availability of private credit.  He observed the situation could have real effects on economic growth if it remains unchanged. Governments hoping to drive prosperity should consider how they can increase access to finance.

    Quoting a report “Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A)”, he said  in 2015 only 23 per cent of African households had access to formal or semi-formal financial services adding that that there is evidently significant variation between countries’ levels of financial sector development.

    The report notes that South Africa and Mauritius have the highest Private Sector credit extension (PSCE))to GDP ratios on the continent, with South Africa’s figure estimated at 150 per cent in 2015 while Mauritius’ ratio is estimated at around 104 per cent.

  • AMCON and Nigeria’s financial stability

    Resilience is one word that best describes the Nigeria’s economy in the face of the turbulence it is undergoing. As acknowledged by economists, Nigeria is experiencing triple, simultaneous, shocks—economic, political and social. The sluggish economic growth, which exacerbates the other two shocks, is mainly attributed to a slowdown in economic activity which has been adversely impacted by the inadequate supply of foreign exchange aggravated by falling price of oil, the nation’s main foreign exchange earner accounting for about 75% of its export revenue.

    Despite the recession, which has pushed the country down to the third largest economy in Africa, Nigeria is still forging ahead. A renewed effort at non-oil revenue collection is helping to reduce fiscal vulnerability caused by oil price shocks. The revenue from the non-oil sector is propping the country in the meantime.

    The reforms pursued by the Buhari administration have the potential to lay a foundation for renewed growth. These include: enforcement of the single treasury account (TSA) to block financial leakages; renewed efforts at enforcement of tax compliance; increasing the ratio of capital to recurrent expenditure to 30:70 and continuous support for agencies saddled with the responsibility of stabilizing the financial system such as Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) are fast yielding results.

    Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun recently disclosed that TSA has significantly witnessed an increase to N3.3 trillion in May, while noting that the finance ministry had continuously discovered revenue platforms that had escaped its net. These include shipping levies, airport landing charges and visa fees, amongst others. On the other hand, the Federal Government received N2.2 trillion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) between June 2015 and May 2016.

    AMCON, which was set up because of the global financial crisis of 2008/2009, has contributed a lot in stabilizing the economy from the time it was set up, through acquiring the Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) of some of the distressed banks in Nigeria, providing financial accommodation to others thereby engendering financial stability in the banking system.

    Established in 2010, AMCON came to stabilize the banking system from systemic collapse after going through well-conceived structural reforms, which involved bank consolidations, recapitalization and managerial changes at some banks, and portfolio clean-ups. These reforms provided a solution to the banking crisis that Nigeria experienced few years ago and eventually the soundness in the banking sector was restored.

    Its objective include assisting eligible financial institutions to efficiently dispose of eligible bank assets; efficiently manage and dispose of eligible bank assets acquired by it; and obtaining the best achievable financial returns on eligible bank assets or other assets acquired by it.

    In an unprecedented move, AMCON acquired about 13,774 Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) worth N3.6 trillion from 22 commercial banks and thus saved the banking system, while its provision of financial accommodation of N2.2billion protected about N4.7trillion of depositors’ funds and interbank takings as well as saved approximately 14,000 jobs.

    Today AMCON is pursuing the recovery of these assets. This, it is doing vigorously as it is well into its sixth out of 10 year mandate period.

    The MD/CEO Ahmad Kuru, in a recent interview with Economic Confidential magazine, clarified the issue of AMCON’s lifespan pointing out that “AMCON is not set up to perpetually bail out financial institutions. AMCON has a sunset period. He said. “When AMCON was set up, it was supposed to be there for only ten years!”

    But from the good work that AMCON is doing, an extension is a possibility.

    So far AMCON has settled over 56 percent of the total N3.7 trillion (about N.072 trillion) bad debts it had to manage from various individuals, groups and organisations in the country. According to Kuru, AMCON has in this process helped a lot of businesses bounce back and on the path of recovery. “We don’t want any business to suffer because of their debts. We are not out to kill businesses but to encourage them to grow by following the global best practices in debt reconciliations and settlements. Our desire is to recover the money for the nation through painless processes” he told Economic Confidential.

    In addition to returning the much needed cash to Federal Government, AMCON is also building confidence in our financial system, although, Kuru says “there should not be an institution to anticipate failure.” Indeed, the idea of AMCON as stabilizing and re-vitalizing tool established to revive the financial system has paid off and has changed the mindset of bad debtors that they can get away with depositors’ funds. This alone is reassuring to our investors and other bank clients.

    The aggregate results of efforts such as that of AMCON will surely improve our business environment, which the World Bank’s “Doing Business Report” portrayed as not encouraging investment and competitiveness in our industrial sector. The 2016 report ranked Nigeria as 169th out of 189 countries. This is one point improvement over last year when Nigeria was placed 170th out 189. The improvements were mainly in the areas of protecting minority investors and registering property.

    Add the result of AMCON and other agencies managing our macro economy to the massive injection of money announced by the Federal Government towards improving infrastructure with a view to stimulating the economy. Two weeks ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo revealed that the Federal Government planned to spend N100 billion ($312.50 mil­lion) on capital projects in the com­ing days as part of the 2016 budget. The VP also said government capital spending so far has reached N332 billion. These moves will surely enhance people’s productivity and reflate the economy.

    Surely, the Federal Government and its agencies such as AMCON are serious in rekindling our growth. The faith Nigerians have shown in the Buhari administration thus far lies in the commitment and sincerity shown by the administration to take Nigeria out of the woods. The commitment of our professionals in various fields working to salvage our situation and bounce back is highly commendable. That’s why the news coming out of agencies such as AMCON is reassuring Nigerians that we can be the change we desire.

     

    • Hassan is a financial systems analyst.

  • Reps seek establishment of Financial Services Commission

    The House of Representatives has called for the establishment of Financial Services Commission (FSC) that will comprise  monetary and fiscal authorities.

    The Chairman, House Committee on Banking and Currency, Sir Jones Onyereri, who spoke yesterday in Lagos, also called for a review of interest rate.

    The lawmaker who fielded questions from reporters at the end of their oversight visit to the Lagos office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said the committee is worried about the rising bad loans in the industry. He urged the apex bank to rise to its regulatory role in addressing the issue.

    According to him, insider abuse remained one of the major causes of rising cases of bad loans. He urged the CBN to improve on its supervision roles, and sanction culprits as a deterrent to others.

    Onyereri explained that the formation of FSC would cut high interest rate on government securities and slash domestic borrowing.

    He urged the CBN to work with the Ministry of Finance to find a way of reducing the level of domestic borrowing, which he believes would improve the state of the economy.

    Other committee members also expressed worries over the impact of the hike in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which is the benchmark interest rate, on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

    He said: “We were a little bit worried because of the increase in the MPR, and believe as a committee, that was not the best decision. But having heard from the CBN, we still want to tinker on what led them to come out with that decision because, for us, we were looking at the bigger picture of still trying to grow the SMEs and the only way to grow the SMEs is to make credit accessible to them.

    “But making credit accessible to them will not work out with very high interest rate. We believe along the line, we will be able to create a perfect balance.”

    On the exchange rate policies, he said the introduction of flexible exchange rate was a smart way to get out of the issue of devaluation given that government does not believe in devaluation, and there has been a back and forth argument whether we should devalue.

  • Heritage Bank deepens financial literacy

    Heritage Bank deepens financial literacy

    Heritage Bank has launched, The Protector, a comic book to deepen financial literacy among school children.

    The initiative is a fall-out of the declaration of last month as “Children Banking Month” by the bank. The project, according to the bank, is in recognition of the pivotal role children play as leaders of tomorrow.

    At the unveiling of the book in Lagos, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Bank, Ifie Sekibo, who was represented by Executive Director, Lagos/South West and Corporate Banking, Mrs. Mary Akpobome, explained that the lender has been at the forefront of driving the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) financial inclusion initiative and is constantly thinking of creative and innovative ways of introducing the younger generation to the concept of wealth creation through Financial Literacy

    Sekibo added: “With this Comic book project, we envisage the birth of creative writers, voice over artistes, motion graphic producers among children.

    “Dear young ones in our midst, Heritage Bank remains committed to your development because you represent the future, if we do all we can to support you and equip you, our country will be a much better place to live in.”

    He stressed that financial education is a key success indicator for socio-economic development, adding that the bank believes in empowering the youth with requisite skills to make solid financial decisions in adult years

    The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, represented by Mr. Adesina Odeyemi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, commended the bank for the initiative, which he described as a strong foundation for the nation’s development.

    He said the state is desirous of an organization that is ready to educate the youth and help them realise their potentials.

  • NDDC appeals for financial support from oil firms

    Acting Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Mrs Ibim Semenitari on Wednesday appealed for more financial support from oil companies operating in the region.

    A statement issued by the commission’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, in Port Harcourt, said that Semenitari made the call when Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) visited the commission.

    The statement quoted Semenitari as requesting oil companies in the area to improve on their contributions to enable the commission fast-track development of the region.

    “OPTS must provide support by pulling resources together so that NDDC can make impact and deliver on projects that would touch the lives of people in communities.

    “We support OPTS leaders to immediately re-activate meeting of Chief Executive Officers of the group to discuss issues affecting the region by ensuring that the region becomes functional for all stakeholders.

    “In all activities in 2016, we promote stronger partnership to enable us provide quality service delivery to the people.

    “We are concluding construction work on Ogbia-Nembe road that would be extended to Brass.

    “This means that we must begin talk early and also talk to several communities to get their support, while pulling resources together,” the statement quoted Semenitari as saying.

    She said that the Nembe-Brass section of the road project would be a tripartite arrangement that would involve Agip and the Bayelsa Government.

    She said that Agip would provide support for the project since it operated largely on the Nembe-Brass axis.

    According to her, we will also have meetings with the Bayelsa Government to make contributions even if they don’t put money on the table.

    “If we pull our resources together, it will be a win-win situation for all parties which would impact positively on the lives of people in the communities,” she said.

    Mrs Semenitari said that clean-up of oil spills in Ogoni area of Rivers was an issue that stakeholders must show concern and take greater responsibility.

    She maintained that oil companies must show more commitment to finding greener ways of doing business in the region.

    The statement also quoted, Mr Ibitoye Abosede, Chairman of NDDC/OPTS Working Level Committee, as assuring that the group would mobilise resources and create a platform that would prosper the region.

    He promised that OPTS would embark on joint inspection of projects executed by NDDC and the multinationals.

    Abosede, who is also NDDC Director and Head of Community and Rural Development unit, assured that the partnership would strive to reduce youth restiveness, vandalism and conflict in the region.

  • ‘NNPC, subsidiaries must adopt financial controls, transparency’

    ‘NNPC, subsidiaries must adopt financial controls, transparency’

    The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) has advised the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to adopt proper financial controls, transparency measures in all of its subsidiaries, if it intends to be profitable.

    The Institute in a report said despite the current global low oil prices, the Corporation could still net several billions of dollars per year for the nation’s treasury if it follows certain standard operational steps in its reforms.

    It said the government must first put in place a clear, legally enforceable rule that will govern revenues the NNPC can keep, adding that previous efforts at reforming and restructuring the NNPC did not follow this step.

    The NNPC must adopt new financial controls and transparency measures for its subsidiaries. This will apply not only to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), but equally to the Corporation’s half-dozen oil trading subsidiaries, none of which the Institute disclosed what they earn or how they share earnings.

    The group said there is no public accounting for the money that NNPC’s downstream arm, the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), makes from selling refined products including the billions of dollars in gasoline imported each year through oil-for-product swaps

    In the NRGI report made available to The Nation, the Director, Governance Programmes, Alexandra Gillies said the domestic crude allocation should be eliminated by the government, and agree to a new way of supplying oil to the refineries as part of its efforts to find new ownership and management structures for them. She noted that NNPC could remain the largest or even sole supplier under several different models.

    These include tolling, where the NNPC would grant the refineries operational independence and lease refining capacity from them in exchange for crude; repurchase agreements, where the Corporation would buy crude from its upstream partners on behalf of the refineries; or further inter-company sales, with volumes restricted at the refineries’ actual needs instead of 445,000 barrels per day – an amount she said far exceeded the small volumes (often under 100,000 bpd) they can process.

    She said if the NNPC continues to do oil-for-product swaps; it could simply allocate parts of its regular export sales to those deals.

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu had announced the unbundling or restructuring of the Corporation into  seven divisions and 30 independent companies with their own managing directors. Gillies agreed it was a step toward turning NNPC into a more appropriately-sized, profit-driven firm, but nevertheless pointed out the proposal did not explain how the new companies would fund their operations or share their earnings with the government.

    She said such a rule was also missing from the current plans to break the long delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into smaller pieces for passage, adding drafts of a first, senate-led installment were already making the rounds. However, senate leadership said debate would start soon.

    She noted the new bill envisions an NNPC split into two partially privatized companies: the Nigeria Petroleum Assets Management Company and a national oil company. She said the latest drafts talk variously about these entities retaining unspecified shares of earnings, charging the government ‘management fees,’ receiving federal budget appropriations to cover some un-enumerated costs, and paying dividends to the Federation Account based on policies to be agreed down the road.

  • Skye Bank, Nasarawa partner to block financial leakages

    Skye Bank, Nasarawa partner to block financial leakages

    Skye Bank Plc and Nasarawa State government are partnering in the implementation of a biometric and verification  that would save the state N990 million annually from financial leakages.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Abuja and Northern Directorate, Idris Yakubu, who disclosed this at the weekend in Lafia while presenting the report of the biometric and verification to Governor Umaru Al-Makura, said the exercise would save the state about N82.5 million monthly.

    Yakubu said the report, when implemented, would go a long way in blocking leakages and save funds that can be applied to initiatives and ventures that will help create more job opportunities for youths in the state.

    According to the bank director, the recommendations in the report would be useful in the effective management of the scarce resources accruing to the state. “This project, Your Excellency, is a demonstration of the commitment of Skye Bank Plc in supporting the socio-economic development of Nasarawa State and the government of His Excellency, Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura,” Yakubu said.

    He gave the objectives of the exercise, which involved all workers of the state and local government areas, the state Universal Basic Education Board employees and pensioners, to include the verification of all persons on the state payroll, capture the basic biometric details of civil servants and workers including the pensioners.

    Responding, Governor Al-Makura thanked Skye Bank for a good job and promised that the report would be implemented to block leakages and stop wastages in public expenditure.

  • Bayelsa pupils get financial literacy lessons

    Pupils are always preoccupied with learning alphabets, arithmetic, current affairs, social studies and religious knowledge. They are not always bothered with issues about money, although they spend some cash everyday to buy snacks and soft drinks. Most times, they lack knowledge of basic and core financial concepts.

    But not anymore. Things have changed. The Central Bank of Nigeria, in collaboration with the Sky Bank and the Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) have started a special campaign to educate pupils on money and its management.

    In a bid to catch them young, CBN and Skye Bank believe that introducing financial literacy to children will help them grow to become better managers of resources, successful entrepreneurs and in general evolve a country with an army of successful and self-sufficient individuals, myriads of profitable firms and efficient employable job seekers.

    Indeed, it was exciting how the Financial Literacy Day (FLD) turned out in Biedomo Premier School, one of the popular private schools located in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Pupils were selected from different classes to attend the literacy lecture spearheaded by the Sky Bank. A team of the bank relocated to the school and spent hours to interact with the children on money matters.

    To underscore the importance of the programme, the bank sent its South-South regional manager, Mr. Raphael Abiaziem to teach the children financial matters. The children were enthused when their Principal, Oluwotoyin Ebojela introduced the event that held at the school’s assembly hall. The pupils were happy that the CBN they usually hear of and a bank whose branches they had seen were in their midst.

    But they became more excited when the Head, Sustainability and Consumer Protection Unit of Sky Bank, Bolanle Adesanoye introduced Abiaziem as their teacher. In fact, Abiaziem made them happy. He used objects they were familiar with and habits they had formed over the years to teach them lessons on money.

    The lecture was very interactive. The teacher said it was time for them to begin to know how to manage money, matrix of money and sources of earnings. He said money when earned could either be saved or invested. He asked the children not to save their money in piggy bank alone but to also take it to commercial banks for safekeeping.

    He said it was wrong to invest all the money in stomach adding that such investment yields only faeces. “Investing in stomach yields nothing. It only yields faeces. It is safer to keep your money in a bank. If you save in a piggy bank, it does not yield interest”, he said.

    He said children could buy shares through their parents and gave them an experience of a child who grew to become a billionaire because his parents bought shares for him in a blue-chip company. The manager engaged the pupils on definitions of some financial concepts.

    He explained the concepts of Bank Verification Number (BVN), Account, Account Number, Cooperative, POS, Insurance and ATM to them. The children also learnt fundamentals of risk management, profit and production.

    The manager told them some of the problems with the economy. According to him, Nigeria is more of a consuming country than a producing one. He said: “Nigeria does not produce anything. We import virtually everything. But the President has insisted that we must produce the things we consume. Commodities will be cheaper when we produce”.

    In fact, Abiaziem took the lessons to some of the realities in the economy. He raised the question: do we devalue the Naira? He explained the concepts of devaluation, foreign exchange, domiciliary account and foreign currencies.

    The attentive pupils provided answers on what should be done to help the Naira become stronger. They said diversification of the economy, reduction of importation and supporting the growth of infant industries will help the Naira.

    CBN and its partners made some books on elementary financial management available to the school. Such books are, Kente the Money Wise Ant by Nneka Osili; Basic Financial Education and Management by Clearone Concept; Organising Your Future by Opume Onuoha and the Path of Fate by Fumilayo Braithwaite.

    Also, Mr. Ibironke Toba of the Sky Bank was concerned about the Sky Bank Rainbow Account. He said the account is designed for children and appealed to the pupils to ask their parents to open the accounts for them. He said it is developed to ensure their education and future growth.

    The elated principal thanked the CBN, Sky Bank and JAN for remembering a school in Bayelsa and appealed to the pupils to start the culture of saving by opening accounts with the Sky Bank. “Don’t invest all your money on soft drinks and biscuits”, she said.

  • Banks take financial literacy to youths

    Banks take financial literacy to youths

    The financial inclusion project of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) backed by the Bankers’ Committee is getting the support of many commercial banks. Skye Bank Plc has taken its financial literacy campaign for  youths to Bayelsa and Ogun states to boost their knowledge of savings and investment, writes COLLINS NWEZE

    The Bankers’ Committee is taking financial literacy for the youth very seriously and so are many commercial banks. For Skye Bank Plc, now is the time to promote financial inclusion, especially among the youth and grassroots. The commercial bank last week took its mentoring programme for students in financial literacy to Bayelsa and Ogun states to underscore the imperatives of the savings culture among the beneficiaries.

    The bank’s officials were at Biedomo Premier School, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State where they taught the students the fundamentals of financial planning, investment instruments and the need for imbibing the savings culture at an early stage.

    The bank’s Head of Sustainability and Consumer Protection Department, Mrs. Bola Adesanoye, who took the students through the various teaching sessions, explained the various bank account types.

    She, however, focused on the savings account, being the one suitable for students, in addition to other financial investments such as bonds, insurance, treasury bills, mutual funds, among others and the benefit of each of them. The participants had the opportunity to ask questions after the lecture sessions, with the successful getting various gift items which included children’s books.

    Explaining the rationale for the programme, Adesanoye said the programme was an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) designed to expose the students to saving money in banks. “The purpose is to catch them young and expose them to modern art of banking. The programme is an initiative of the CBN and we are to cover the 36 states. And from the responses of the kids, you would discover that the programme has achieved one of its aims. At least, the kids are now familiar with what we do in the  banking sector,” she said.

    “My appeal goes to the parents. As they are operating different bank accounts, they should impress the habit of savings on their children by opening an account for them. At Skye, we have Rainbow Savings Account which is specifically designed for children.’’

    Speaking further, she said the programme would make the kids money intelligent, disciplined and wise spending. “And in order to put the programme into practical purpose, Skye bank has come up with a special account known as Rainbow Account”, she added.

    While at Biedomo Premier School, Yenagoa, Skye Bank officials took the pupils through the basic principles of savings and the need for the them to start saving at a very early stage. Similarly, students of Leadway School, Divine International Primary School and Amass Primary School, all based in Abeokuta, also benefitted from the bank’s financial training and mentoring programme. The enthusiastic pupils were told to save money given to them so as to build a large pool of funds by the time they become adults.

    The lender, last year took the  training programme to Osogbo. Phobestar Royalty School benefited from the programme, with the pupils all exposed to the essence of savings.

    The Proprietress of the school, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Segun, disclosed that her joy knew no bound with the decision of CBN to choose her school for the lecture.

    She said the lecture would not only help the students to be money wise but would also prepare them to be financially independent when they graduate from the school.

    The bank had also renovated three blocks of 12 classrooms at Government Day Secondary School, Wuse 11, Abuja, under its ‘School adoption’ and financial literacy mentorship series in line with the CBN ‘Adopt a school project’. The renovated classrooms were handed over to the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Department of Education and the Principal of the school, Joseph Akor, in Abuja last week.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Abuja /Northern Directorate Idris Yakubu, said the lender was committed to creating conducive atmosphere for students and teachers to learn and teach respectively.

    For him, the bank has made investment in corporate social responsibility in the education sector, adding that it would continue to support the school and help it achieve its objective of producing high quality students. He appealed to parents to save for the education of their children as a way of overcoming the challenges of funding their wards’ education, noting that savings ensured that parents were not put under pressure over payment of school fees.

    The Principal of the school, Joseph Akor, praised the lender for its support for the school in the last three years, which has led to a positive transformation of the school. He said the financial literacy mentorship series of the bank and the provision of infrastructure at the school have significantly enhanced the school’s ability to live up to the expectations of both parents and the students in terms of adequate and conducive classrooms.

    Akor appealed to the bank to assist the school to provide sporting infrastructure that will enable the students become good sportsmen and women in the future.

    The Deputy Director, Education, FCT Department of Education, Gama Yakubu, praised Skye Bank for its outstanding contributions to education in the FCT.

    He urged other corporate bodies to emulate the bank by coming to the aid of public schools.