Wednesday, October 27,2021 / 07:38 PM / by CBN / Header Image Credit: CBN

Inits drive to ensure the digital financial inclusion of women and youth acrossNigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its stakeholders are billed toengage target groups in selected States in order to facilitate their economicempowerment and inclusion.

Astatement from the CBN noted that the programme also aims at implementing theBank's framework for advancing women's financial inclusion in Nigeria andimprove access to financial products and services amongst vulnerable segmentsof the Nigerian society.

Thedigital financial inclusion drive scheduled to commence from Gombe State, onMonday, November 1^st through to Friday, November 5^th,2021, is the first of six engagements expected to cut across states with highnumbers of financially excluded women and youth.

Thestatement identified Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Niger and Oyo as the other Stateswith high populations of vulnerable financially excluded women and youths,adding that those who fall into these groups are expected to benefit from thedrive throughout the rest of the year.

Accordingto the CBN, the drive is expected to, among other things, improve financialliteracy and build awareness on the benefits of the use of digital financialservices and contribute to increased access to Payments, Savings and creditenhancement opportunities for rural women and youth across the countryleveraging digital platforms.

Similarly,it is expected to promote the uptake of other financial products and servicesamongst women and youth including insurance, pension and capital marketproducts through agents.

TheDFI drive for women and youth in Gombe State will hold across Biliri, Kaltungo,Akko, Yemaltu Deba and Dukku Local Government Areas and specifically createawareness on the Central Bank Digital Currency and its benefits, creditenhancement schemes of the Government and other financial products andservices.

Thetarget for the drive is to reach at least 25,000 women and youth across theState.

Meanwhile,a recent report published by McKinsey Global Institute highlighted the criticalimportance of women's financial inclusion to global GDP growth and notes thatif countries in Africa can focus on closing gender gaps in their respectivejurisdictions, the continent could add $316 billion or 10 percent to GDP in theperiod to 2025.

Nigeriacurrently has a National Financial Inclusion rate of 64.9%, and a financialinclusion gender gap of 8% and proposes to achieve 93% overall financialinclusion and close the gender gap in access to finance by 2024. According tothe 2020 A2F survey by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access in Nigeria(EFInA), only 26% of adult women and 27% of youths in Gombe State have accessto one form of financial product or service.

Inaddition to reducing the high statistics on women's exclusion, the CBN'sdigital financial drive is also expected to help curb restiveness amongst theyouth population by exposing them to economicallyviable ways of improving their livelihoods and ensure that they understand theneed for safety of their funds protected within formal financial institutions.