Maya Declaration and CBN’s Elusive Financial Inclusion -By Rabiu Musa

State political and economic institutions’ policies are believed that it played a significant role in determining societal general well being and in cushioning economic prosperity of all and sundry as well as providing an avenue that ensured economic inclusion and citizens’ awareness on all financial services.

Nigeria as one of the countries committed to the Maya Declaration, is expected to increasingly mainstream huge resources to attain the sustainable development goal thereby bridging the gap that constrains the economic growth of its citizens especially those in rural areas.

The Maya Declaration is a means to champion financial inclusion thereby contributing to the range of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and specifically focusing on Goal number one of “No poverty”.

Nigeria becomes a member of Alliance for Financial Inclusion when our poverty rate in 2011 was 15.0 percent, with 46.2 million suffering from abject poverty but according to National Bureau of Statistics’ report of 4th May, 2020 Nigerian’s poverty rate is currently 40.1 percent with over 85 million people living in abject poverty.

This is exactly nine years since Nigeria becomes a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion but instead of Nigeria’s poverty rate to be stooping, it keeps ascending intractably.

On a similar vein, the Nigerian Apex Bank has in 2012, adopted the National Financial Inclusion Strategy in order to create an avenue that will ensure a national financial inclusion of all citizens.

Upon all the manifold of economic interventions and policies being initiated, including alternative financial institutions such as microfinance institutions in order to ensure financial services reach the excluded as well as curbing the difficulties in accessing financial services. The economic interventions and policies in Nigeria seem to be leapfrogged. And or the policies and interventions are not effective to include all Nigerians in economic activities in order to curb the abject poverty bedeviling the nation.

Its believed that most of the Federal Govt financial Interventions aimed at addressing the financial exclusion of the poor people in the country are being hijacked by politicians and other public office holders in their sustained voyage to keep the leadership dynasty and economic prosperity within their circle in the country.

This further worsened the already lingering socio-economic disparities between the rural communities, poorer states, and the more well-developed states.

Its obvious and plain truth that even among the leading and economically viable states, the poor people were largely excluded from most of the governmental economic interventions and suffered a gross economic hardship and abject poverty let alone the comatose situation of the rural dwellers in the poorer states.

The Federal Government must consider widening opportunities for individuals to realize full potential through all-inclusive economic and financial education for citizens to access soft loan in Micro financial institutions as well as Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and above all the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure financial stability for the benefit of all.

Rabiu Musa writes from Bayero University, Kano and can be reached via: rabiumusa037@gmail.com