The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, on Saturday said that the bank would continue to support measures that would deepen penetration of financial services in the country.

Emefiele said while delivering a welcome address at the 9th annual Bankers Committee Retreat in Lagos.

According to him, the measure will capture those who are financially excluded from the system.

The theme of the retreat is “Improving Financial Access, Enabling Job Creation and Driving Inclusive Growth in Nigeria”.

He said such measures would also consider Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that were unable to obtain credit facilities from financial institutions.

Emefiele identified some of the measures already taken by CBN to achieve the plan to include Biometric Verification Number (BVN) and Credit Reporting Act 2017 that led to the establishment of the Credit Bureaux.

He said that the CBN, in order to drive adoption of financial services, partnered other stakeholders to develop agent-banking guidelines.

According to him, agent banking is designed to encourage participation in the financial sector by individuals unfamiliar with the banking system through the provision of agents in underserved areas.

He said part of the measures was the introduction of the Anchor Borrowers Programme with an investment of over N45 billion which had been effective in improving production, by smallholder farmers of rice, maize and soya beans.

Others were Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme and Collateral Registry.

“In furtherance of these efforts, this Bankers’ Committee retreat is rightfully focusing on strategies to address current constraints in improving access to finance for the unbanked.

“It is also providing actionable steps that will be taken in order to ensure that they make meaningful contributions to Nigeria’s growth and development.

“The retreat will also highlight and discuss key enablers for improving access to credit for MSMEs,” he added. (NAN)

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