By Tolu Oyekan, Partner, BCG
Financial inclusion is increasingly becoming
an area of priority across the globe among policymakers, researchers and
development-oriented agencies. Its importance comes from the promise it holds
as a tool for economic development, particularly in the areas of poverty
reduction, employment generation, wealth creation and improved welfare and
general standards of living.
The Nigerian government launched the National
Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2012 (NFIS 2012), to achieve 80% inclusion by
2020. The NFIS framework was leveraged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to
effectively regulate the Nigerian financial sector. This drive necessitated the
introduction of the cashless policy, the proliferation of agency banking, the
growth of microfinance banks and increased adoption of fintech solutions;
especially digital payment products.
However, these positive outcomes could not
help achieve the target of 80% inclusion by the end of 2020. Barriers that
hampered this target were irregular income, illiteracy, lack of proximity to access
points, lack of required documentation, inadequate awareness, high service
fees, and the high affinity for cash.
The Impact of COVID-19
In addition to the bedeviling barriers, came
the COVID-19 pandemic. In its wake were the falling prices of crude, the halt
in economic activities and the loss of income by many Nigerian households. The
unemployment rate rose to 27.1%, inflation increased and the purchasing power
of the people dropped.
Interestingly, despite these negative impacts
on the economy, there was growth within the entrepreneurial sector. According
to the EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2020 Survey, about 86
million Nigerian adults’ livelihoods were negatively impacted by the pandemic.
However, the survey showed that about 49.1 million Nigerians turned the
situation around to start their businesses either in agriculture or service
delivery. These new businesses employed about 33.2 million Nigerians, thereby
creating about 70.3 million jobs.
The Revised NFIS
While the NFIS 2012 may not have delivered the
80% inclusion target, it has however provided grounds to evaluate progress and
identify the barriers and insights in developing a refreshed document for the
new target. Upon review of the NFIS 2012, the CBN and its stakeholders came up
with the Revised NFIS document which targets a 95% financial inclusion
threshold in Nigeria by 2024.
This is ambitious given that the financial
inclusion index moved from 57.3% in 2010 to 60.3% in 2012 and 63.2% in 2020, a
growth of about 5.9% in 10 years. Achieving a 31.8% increment in 4 years is
indeed ambitious, but not impossible.
The Revised NFIS identified five priority
areas as key to achieving the new target, namely; an enabling environment for
the expansion of Digital Financial Services (DFS), rapid growth of agent
networks for last mile delivery, harmonization of KYC requirements, conducive
environment to serve the excluded; and incentivizing the adoption of cashless
payment channels.
The Revised NFIS also examines other salient
issues such as increasing awareness and knowledge of financial products,
channels as well as trust. There is also the need for frequent review of the
implementation of the strategy so as to take lessons faster and adjust the
strategy to fit prevailing realities.
After All, Said and Done
Though the pandemic might have spelt doom for
a lot of businesses and economies, it has however thrown up a few positive
indicators for the financial inclusion drive in Nigeria. As earlier mentioned,
while people lost their jobs, there was an upsurge of micro businesses which
created employment opportunities, thus reducing the impact of unemployment in
the country.
The pandemic also led to the increased
adoption of DFS and financial agent services. According to the Nigeria
Inter-Bank Settlement Service (NIBSS) report, the monthly use of digital
channels rose from 45 million transactions valued at N5.4 trillion at the end
of 2017 to over 287 million valued at N23trillion in June 2021. This represents
a growth of over 530% in the last 5 years. Thus, the volume of digital
transactions rose from 75% in 2019 to 135% in 2020. Another report by ACI shows
that digital payment transactions grew to over 1 billion, representing a growth
rate of over 45%.
There has been an increased uptake of banking products
and services, the banking sector being the biggest driver of the financial
inclusion agenda in Nigeria. Between 2018 and 2020, the banked population grew
by 5%, savings accounts by 6% and banking agents by 16%. There has also been an
increased adoption of non-banking products and services such as financial
services agents, pension, insurance and mobile money.
To ensure that the targeted 95% inclusion is
achieved by 2024 amidst the drawbacks thrown up by the pandemic and other
peculiarities of the Nigerian economy, the CBN and its stakeholders have their
work cut out for them. The following are some of the areas they should focus
on:
Increasing access to financial services
This should be viewed from two different
lenses; the consumers’ and the service providers’. From the view of the
consumer, it is important that the tiered-Know Your Customer (KYC) documents be
harmonized to reduce the limitation to having a transactional account. A
transaction account is the bedrock of financial services.
Increased awareness for DFS and other banking
products will improve access to these products and services. Banking and DFS
transactional fees should be reviewed to encourage massive uptake especially
among rural dwellers and the poor.
From the service providers’ perspective, the
bottlenecks associated with acquiring the Payment Service Bank (PSB) license
should be reduced. The process should be democratized to allow private
investors other than telcos, fintech companies and banks.
The CBN should facilitate the actualization of
the Shared Agents Network Facility (SANEF) to enable the proposed 500,000
agents provide financial services in the under-served areas, especially the
Northern region.
Improved Economy
More importantly, improving the economic and
financial status of Nigerian households and firms will enhance the
possibilities of a financially included Nigeria. With a thriving economy, the households
will save and embrace other financial products services as credit, insurance
and pensions.
The prevailing security challenges across the
country should be addressed as it hampers economic activities and consequently
the financial inclusion figures.
Capturing the over 40 million MSMEs in the
formal financial sector is critical to improving the economy. This group
employs over 80% of the country’s population and contributes about 50% of the
country’s GDP. When formally served, progress is easier to monitor and track.
With more women being financially excluded-
41% female and 33% male- it suffices to say that concerted efforts should be
channeled towards ensuring that more women are empowered to carry out more
economic activities and consequent financial transactions. Efforts should be
made in advancing the National Financial Inclusion Special Intervention Working
Group’s (a subcommittee that looks into gender-related financial inclusion
issues) recommendations. Financial products such as low interest loans, grants
and employment opportunities should be extended to women.
Collaborations
The CBN needs to collaborate with critical
enablers such as the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). Initiatives such
as the Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) project- an initiative expected to
provide broadband fiber and connectivity to every Local Government Area of the
federation with a minimum speed of 10 Gbps- should be implemented to ensure
delivery of services by agent banks, even in rural areas.
The Nigerian postal service’s network also
provides a wide reach that the CBN can leverage to achieve last-mile delivery.
Incidentally, legislative provisions for the
financial inclusion strategy could be strengthened. Collaborating with
policymakers to effectively implement and track the financial inclusion
strategy, makes the 95% inclusion target less daunting.
A BCG report commissioned by Telenor, a
multinational telecommunications company, stipulated that a 1% increase in
financial inclusion increases the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
by 3.6 per cent. This, therefore, underscores the socio-economic impact of
financial inclusion as a critical driver to foster economic development, reduce
poverty and achieve inclusive economic growth.
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