Executive Director, Nigerian North Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Emem Usoro has enjoined the government at all levels (to declare a state of emergency on the low level of literacy in Northern Nigeria due to its ripple effects on the endemic insecurity, banditry, gross poverty and other vices in Northern Nigeria.
Specifically, she said this is the most single effective solution for boosting financial-inclusion levels in northern Nigeria.
Usoro in an interview noted that as a corporate citizen, UBA has contributed to the improvement of financial literacy in Northern Nigeria as a way of boosting financial inclusion through various initiatives.
They are: Deployment of 200 offline Bank Verification Number (BVN) devices and 610 agents across strategic locations in the rural areas of Northern Nigeria; Periodic training of agents in the region on financial literacy who will in turn educate people around their vicinity; Strategic focus on our presence and visibility in market locations to spread financial literacy to the grassroots; Periodic market storms to sensitize indigenes in rural areas and dispatch of promotional materials to agent locations that aids financial literacy.
“In my opinion, Financial Literacy remains the most single effective solution for boosting financial inclusion levels in Northern Nigeria.
“As of 2019, the literacy level in the North was 34 percent, compared to 67percent in the South according to the NBS. Furthermore, Northern Nigeria is reported to have 16.34million unbanked population, which represents 43 percent of its population,” Usoro stated.
She further explained that the focus is not just on the bottom line but the people.
She said that Agricultural and Micro Small and Medium scale Enterprises (MSME)-sector businesses in Nigeria are receiving adequate support from banks, though there will always be areas of improvement; adding that UBA has been at the forefront of supporting this sector because SMEs have been proven to be the bedrock of any economy.
Records show that on June 19, 2023 (during Afreximbank’s 30th Annual Meeting in Accra, Ghana), UBA signed an agreement with the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to invest $6billion as funding for African Small and Medium Enterprises within the next three years.
A breakdown of the $6billion investment shows that a total of $1.2billion has been budgeted for the year 2023, $1.9bn for 2024 and $2.88billion for 2025.
By this agreement, UBA with the aim of boosting intra-Africa trade, will provide financial services in four main areas which are agro-processing, automotive, pharmaceuticals, and transport and logistics, to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in all the 20 African countries where UBA operates.
These countries are Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Congo DRC, Chad and Cameroon.
One of the key initiatives of the AfCFTA Agreement focuses on improving access to finance and markets for SMEs to encourage their growth and contribution to the socio-economic development of Africa.
“Same Day UBA executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Bank and the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) at Accra International Conference Center.
“The MoU is aimed at enhancing the settlement of secure, efficient, and cost-effective cross-border payments to bolster intra-African trade.
“The partnership will be executed in stages, in coordination with the Central Banks in countries where UBA operates. UBA will keep its customers informed through established communication channels as the services are rolled out in respective countries.”
She further disclosed that with specific reference to Women and Youths (2 under-represented groups in SME financing), UBA is a signatory to the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), which is a pan-African initiative to bridge the $42 billion financing gap facing women in Africa.
This initiative is being pushed in all its subsidiaries, Usoro said, through loan offerings to women at discounted prices and much more friendly collateral requirements, complemented with capacity development.
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