|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
All kinds of trees adorn the expansive compound at the Command Secondary School Makurdi, Benue State. The hot sun shines brightly on their leaves even as a gentle wind sway them from one side to another. The school premises is quiet but the quietness of the hour is altered occasionally by the voices of students repeating words after a teacher in one of the classrooms.
A seminar organised by Access Bank, in line with the company’s activities during the Global Money Week, an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, to commemorate the Financial Literacy Day is about to begin.
The big school hall is filled to capacity with students who are keen to hear what the speaker has to say. Seated amongst them is 16 year-old Princess. She nods, smiles and claps while the presentations lasted. She seems to be a bright teenager. “I am delighted,” she tells me at the end of the programme. “I didn’t know there was so much to be known about money. Now, I can proudly say that I am literate as regards finance. We like what Access Bank has done for us and we hope this will continue. As people grow they need to learn more about money and cultivate the habit of saving for their tomorrow.”
The lecture on the day was given by the chief executive officer, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, who was ably represented by the zonal head for North-Central Banking, Kingsley Ilawagbon; was interactive in nature. It detailed the basic principles of money management and elementary financial education. There was a question session afterward and the students were quick to seek clarification on some of their confusions.
The seminar at Makurdi was part of the bank’s commemoration of this year’s Global Money Week which is specifically aimed at promoting financial literacy amongst youths and children in the country. The hallmark of this year’s commemorative initiatives by the bank was its adoption of Command Secondary School in Makurdi for the impartation of the financial literacy module. In his comment, Herbert Wigwe said that the Bankers Committee’s agenda for the celebration of this year’s Money Week was a solid testament to the dedication of the Nigerian banking sector to inclusive and sustainable banking.
According to him, “the Bankers Committee through its Sub-Committee on Financial Literacy has evolved a programme that would ensure that the Nigerian banking sector makes meaningful contribution to the attainment of this year’s goal of involving more than 1 million people in the exercise which is expected to take place in over 80 countries across the world.”
The Bank in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had as part of its plan to take students on tour to the floor of the NSE. At NSE, students will interact with the Stockbrokers and also ask questions to provide them with adequate knowledge on the operations of the Stock Exchange and ring the closing bell on the trading floor.
Also, the Access Bank was represented at the CBN fair in Abuja where it displayed and created awareness on the Bank’s products and services to the outside world. And the Financial Literacy Day also afforded teachers and students on excursion from select schools in Lagos to see Access Bank’s headquarters in Lagos as they were hosted at the Plaza with opportunity of firsthand experience of the banking system by allowing them access to the bank’s virtual application.
The visitors also went round the floors of the office to have one-on-one interaction with the members of staff and executive management. To ensure that proper learning took place, members of staff related with their guests (students) by engaging them in intelligent discussions on financial literacy.
Esther James, a student at Command School, says she is now aware of the grave relevance of financial literacy. She said: “I learnt about the best way to use our money, and how we can invest, and that when we invest, we get back returns. I also learnt that the aim of this financial literacy is to help students know how to spend money. I also learnt that financial literacy is changing lives. I want to thank Access Bank for its contributions to making our tomorrow better.”
The school’s financial accounting teacher observes he could only draw positive inferences from what had transpired inside the hall. He says: “Honestly, the students from their questions and responses to the lecture, I believe have benefited so much, and have gained knowledge of financial literacy, what it is all about, why Global Money Week was introduced, not only in Nigeria, not only in Makurdi, not only in command Secondary school, but everywhere in the world. They have come to understand that it is very relevant that every person knows how to manage every resource, no matter how small, given to him or her. The talk was very interactive and impacting to the students.”
However, he pointed out that more can still be done to better the program. “I suggest that they visit more schools; I think the child and youth financial empowerment should be done more regularly rather than once in a year,” he said.
On the same day that the students visited, parents were equally hosted at The Plaza to sensitise them on the need to groom their wards early on financial literacy, knowing well that this teaching should not end in the schools. So parents were advised to instil in their wards the culture of savings for them to appreciate the value of being prudent.
The bank ended the week-long programme with visit to select schools in Lagos to speak to students on financial literacy to enable students make informed decisions on matters relating to their finances by highlighting the importance of accumulated savings; drawing examples from prominent individuals as role models.
FUNKE OSAE-BROWN
