Results
from a total demographic study carried out by the Enhancing Financial
Innovation and Access has shown that from a sample of 93.5 million
Nigerian adults, only 33.9 million are banked.
According to the EFIA findings, the other
59.6 million adults are either financially excluded or are served by
informal financial channels like savings club/pool, esusu, ajo or
moneylenders as well as remittances through informal channels such as
transport services and recharge cards.
“Essentially, this means that
approximately, only one in five Nigerian adults have a bank account,
with approximately one bank branch and one Automated Teller Machine for
every 10,000 people,” the EFIA stated in its report.
The situation, the report hinted, was
indicative of a population that was highly marginalised in the area of
access to financial services.
The EFIA is an organisation committed to deepening financial inclusion in Nigeria.
It further stated that since the launch
of mobile money in the country in 2012, only 11.9 million adults (12.7
per cent of the adult population) were aware of the service.
The report added that out of the number,
only 0.8 million adults (approximately 0.8 per cent of the adult
population) currently used mobile money services.
It also indicated that although the
formal financial sector had grown over the past two years, there had
been no significant impact on the level of financial inclusion.
Statistics from the Central Bank of
Nigeria showed that there was an increase of over 300 per cent in value
transactions across various mobile money schemes in the country between
January and July 2014.
Yet, telecommunication companies in the
country said at the end of January 2014, the value of monthly
transactions across different networks stood at just N300m, but reached
the N1.2bn mark by the end of July of the same year.
The General Manager, Corporate Affairs,
MTN Nigeria, Ms. Funmi Onajide, said the figure did not include
transactions carried out within individual networks.
“The volume of transactions within the
same period also increased from 12,000 deals in January 2014 to 35,000
in July 2014, representing 199 per cent increase. This showed the
increasing ability to replace cash with digital money transfer via
mobile phones,” she said.
However, when asked why many Nigerians
using mobile money were those with bank accounts, Onajide said
telecommunication frameworks leveraged huge existing customer base and
technology to drive significant adoption and that there was easier
opportunity for access to financial services.
She said, “That is why a collaborative approach between the telcos and the banks is desirable.
“Given the population, size and
complexity of the Nigerian society, a framework that allows both banks
and the network operators drive strategic partnerships will be best
suited for the attainment of mobile money vision for Nigeria.
Unfortunately, that is not the case at the moment.”
Onajide added that there was an urgent
need for an all-inclusive framework that would allow strategic
partnerships by all stakeholders, noting that this would ensure that
Nigeria could deliver similar growth to that recorded by Kenya.
She added, “This position is premised on
the following key facts: African mobile operators have a wider reach
than banks today in terms of distribution and, therefore, have the
potential to on-board many more customers at the bottom of the pyramid
than banks can through their branch networks.
“As a function of this reach, but also
because of this being an incremental service alongside core mobile
services, the cost of acquisition for a mobile operator is far lower
than for a bank.
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