No financial inclusion without technology, skills, say CBN, others

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the 80 per cent financial inclusion target set for 2020 cannot be achieved without investments in technology and requisite skills.

Besides, the apex bank noted that financial inclusion must go beyond just banking and payment, but be holistic in nature for maximum impact, which would require use of disparate data in the country to provide services to all.

According to it, challenges, including culture, norms, obsolete infrastructure, lack of trust in the system, among others, have continued to increase the financial inclusion gap, which is currently put at 41 per cent in the country.

Speaking at the 2018 Artificial Intelligence for Financial Inclusion summit with the theme: “New Algorithm for the Financially Excluded Segment,” organised by Data Science Nigeria with

as the media partner, in Lagos yesterday, the CBN and other stakeholders in both the financial and technology sectors called for more collaboration in the drive towards bridging the gap in the country.

The experts noted that there was no even development in the country’s inclusion drive as the North seems to be embattled with security challenges, low level of education, inadequate network penetration, among others, leaving majorly the southern part to continue to thrive.