Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA) has released the findings of the ninth Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) Survey, showing that 79 per cent of Nigerian adults, approximately 94.2 million people, now use a financial product or service.

Formal inclusion reached 73 per cent, or roughly 87.2 million adults, exceeding the 70 per cent target set under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.

The findings were presented under the theme of Access. Opportunity. Growth: Advancing Financial and Economic Inclusion for All Nigerians, before an audience of senior government officials, regulators, financial service providers, development partners and civil society organisations.

The programme opened with pre-event breakout sessions on women’s economic and financial inclusion, agricultural livelihoods, and financial resilience, convened with the World Bank Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program (GEF SGP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA),respectively,each examining what the evidence reveals and further asks of the institutions working in those specific areas, and closing with commitments on next steps.

Opening the main plenary, Dr Agnes Olatokunbo Martins, Board Chair, EFInA, said the theme captures both the progress made and the ambition that should guide the next phase of Nigeria’s financial inclusion journey.

She described the value of the Survey as its ability to show what administrative data cannot; explaining that while administrative data can talk about accounts, transactions, infrastructure and providers, A2F talks about the person behind those numbers.

She cautioned against designing for a national average, noting that financial needs and experiences differ by income, gender, geography, age and economic activity.

In a keynote address delivered on behalf of Mr Olayemi Cardoso, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Aisha A. Isa-Olatinwo, Director, Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion, CBN, said the evidence the Survey produces is indispensable to policy design, market development, consumer protection and the effective targeting of reforms.

The governor said, “It is to ensure meaningful usage, affordability, reliability, safety, trust and measurable improvement in financial health.”

Delivering a goodwill message, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, DG, National Pension Commission, welcomed the rise in pension participation from eight per cent of adults in 2023 to 9.1 per cent while pointing to the scale of what remains.

“Roughly nine out of every ten Nigerians are not covered for the day they can no longer work,” she said.

She invited EFInA to work with the Commission on a dedicated pension inclusion model, arguing that opening an account is not by itself pension inclusion, since an account that is open but never funded will not provide dignity in retirement.

Ahead of the release of the data, Sanusi Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, reflected on the 18 years since Nigeria’s inclusion agenda began, in a fireside chat anchored by Prof. Olayinka David-West, Dean and Professor of Information Systems, Lagos Business School.

Opening the conversation, David-West observed that bank access stood at only 21 per cent in 2008, and that exclusion now stands at 21 per cent, describing the shift as an inversion of the pyramid.

Sanusi welcomed the continuity of financial inclusion as a policy priority across successive administrations and pointed to the Bank Verification Number (BVN) as evidence of what durable infrastructure makes possible.

Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA) has released the findings of the ninth Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) Survey, showing that 79 per cent of Nigerian adults, approximately 94.2 million people, now use a financial product or service.

Formal inclusion reached 73 per cent, or roughly 87.2 million adults, exceeding the 70 per cent target set under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.

The findings were presented under the theme of Access. Opportunity. Growth: Advancing Financial and Economic Inclusion for All Nigerians, before an audience of senior government officials, regulators, financial service providers, development partners and civil society organisations.

The programme opened with pre-event breakout sessions on women’s economic and financial inclusion, agricultural livelihoods, and financial resilience, convened with the World Bank Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program (GEF SGP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA),respectively,each examining what the evidence reveals and further asks of the institutions working in those specific areas, and closing with commitments on next steps.

Opening the main plenary, Dr Agnes Olatokunbo Martins, Board Chair, EFInA, said the theme captures both the progress made and the ambition that should guide the next phase of Nigeria’s financial inclusion journey.

She described the value of the Survey as its ability to show what administrative data cannot; explaining that while administrative data can talk about accounts, transactions, infrastructure and providers, A2F talks about the person behind those numbers.

She cautioned against designing for a national average, noting that financial needs and experiences differ by income, gender, geography, age and economic activity.

In a keynote address delivered on behalf of Mr Olayemi Cardoso, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Aisha A. Isa-Olatinwo, Director, Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion, CBN, said the evidence the Survey produces is indispensable to policy design, market development, consumer protection and the effective targeting of reforms.

The governor said, “It is to ensure meaningful usage, affordability, reliability, safety, trust and measurable improvement in financial health.”

Delivering a goodwill message, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, DG, National Pension Commission, welcomed the rise in pension participation from eight per cent of adults in 2023 to 9.1 per cent while pointing to the scale of what remains.

“Roughly nine out of every ten Nigerians are not covered for the day they can no longer work,” she said.

She invited EFInA to work with the Commission on a dedicated pension inclusion model, arguing that opening an account is not by itself pension inclusion, since an account that is open but never funded will not provide dignity in retirement.

Ahead of the release of the data, Sanusi Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, reflected on the 18 years since Nigeria’s inclusion agenda began, in a fireside chat anchored by Prof. Olayinka David-West, Dean and Professor of Information Systems, Lagos Business School.

Opening the conversation, David-West observed that bank access stood at only 21 per cent in 2008, and that exclusion now stands at 21 per cent, describing the shift as an inversion of the pyramid.

Sanusi welcomed the continuity of financial inclusion as a policy priority across successive administrations and pointed to the Bank Verification Number (BVN) as evidence of what durable infrastructure makes possible.

Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA) has released the findings of the ninth Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) Survey, showing that 79 per cent of Nigerian adults, approximately 94.2 million people, now use a financial product or service.

Formal inclusion reached 73 per cent, or roughly 87.2 million adults, exceeding the 70 per cent target set under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.

The findings were presented under the theme of Access. Opportunity. Growth: Advancing Financial and Economic Inclusion for All Nigerians, before an audience of senior government officials, regulators, financial service providers, development partners and civil society organisations.

The programme opened with pre-event breakout sessions on women’s economic and financial inclusion, agricultural livelihoods, and financial resilience, convened with the World Bank Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program (GEF SGP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA),respectively,each examining what the evidence reveals and further asks of the institutions working in those specific areas, and closing with commitments on next steps.

Opening the main plenary, Dr Agnes Olatokunbo Martins, Board Chair, EFInA, said the theme captures both the progress made and the ambition that should guide the next phase of Nigeria’s financial inclusion journey.

She described the value of the Survey as its ability to show what administrative data cannot; explaining that while administrative data can talk about accounts, transactions, infrastructure and providers, A2F talks about the person behind those numbers.

She cautioned against designing for a national average, noting that financial needs and experiences differ by income, gender, geography, age and economic activity.

In a keynote address delivered on behalf of Mr Olayemi Cardoso, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Aisha A. Isa-Olatinwo, Director, Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion, CBN, said the evidence the Survey produces is indispensable to policy design, market development, consumer protection and the effective targeting of reforms.

The governor said, “It is to ensure meaningful usage, affordability, reliability, safety, trust and measurable improvement in financial health.”

Delivering a goodwill message, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, DG, National Pension Commission, welcomed the rise in pension participation from eight per cent of adults in 2023 to 9.1 per cent while pointing to the scale of what remains.

“Roughly nine out of every ten Nigerians are not covered for the day they can no longer work,” she said.

She invited EFInA to work with the Commission on a dedicated pension inclusion model, arguing that opening an account is not by itself pension inclusion, since an account that is open but never funded will not provide dignity in retirement.

Ahead of the release of the data, Sanusi Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, reflected on the 18 years since Nigeria’s inclusion agenda began, in a fireside chat anchored by Prof. Olayinka David-West, Dean and Professor of Information Systems, Lagos Business School.

Opening the conversation, David-West observed that bank access stood at only 21 per cent in 2008, and that exclusion now stands at 21 per cent, describing the shift as an inversion of the pyramid.

Sanusi welcomed the continuity of financial inclusion as a policy priority across successive administrations and pointed to the Bank Verification Number (BVN) as evidence of what durable infrastructure makes possible.