Inlaks, a leading system integrator and Information Communication Technology(ICT) infrastructure provider has reiterated its commitment to working towards achieving the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s financial inclusion vision 2020 strategy by bringing financial services closer to the people through mobile banking and other ICT tools.
The CBN in collaboration with stakeholders launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2012, aimed at further reducing the financial services exclusion rate in Nigeria to 20 percent by 2020, down from 46.3 percent in 2010.
Femi Adeoti, managing director, Inlaks’ said that the company believes that achievement of CBN’s financial inclusion goals will significantly impact the nation’s economy and so he made the promise of commitment while delivering a keynote address at the Nigerian ICT Impact CEO Forum and African Digital Awards in Lagos, where he bagged the ICT Man of the Year award.
According to him, the CBN’s approval given to Inlaks to function as a Super-Agent in the nation’s financial services system is also part of the effort to bring financial services closer to the people.
Adeoti, who was represented by Oladimeji Talabi Koyejo, the director of value added services, said that the organisation through the provision of its services to the people is committed to extend the frontiers of CBN’s financial inclusion in Nigeria.
‘We are committed to the CBN’s financial inclusion agenda most importantly in the areas of poverty reduction, employment generation, wealth creation, improving welfare and general standard of living of Nigerians’, he said.
In his address, Adeoti, explained that 61percent of adults in the country who are currently excluded from the formal financial systems are under age 65 years.
To attract these set of Nigerians into the formal financial system, Adeoti listed agency banking, mobile banking, electronic wallet, internet banking, call centre banking and the automated teller machine [ATM], as some of the requisite channels that would make it possible to bring Nigerian adults closer to the fore front of financial development.
‘Mobile payment technology has become increasingly significant, especially in the context of developing economies, where many low income households and micro enterprises do not have ready access to financial services,’ he said.
He added that with an impressive customer base including six Central Banks in West Africa, 18 of the 24 commercial banks in Nigeria and other major customers in the West African region, Inlaks has become the dominant information technology company in Africa.
Adeoti concluded that Inlaks will work closely with the CBN and other stakeholders to reach the underserved population, as well as the financially excluded, in order to ensure that informal workers in Nigeria have access to affordable financial services through its agent network. The agent network is expected to also address social challenges in key areas such as health, insurance, credit accessibility, savings and wage payment.
JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON
