The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday unveiled the National Financial Inclusion Strategy designed to ensure that at least 80 per cent of Nigerians have access to banking and other financial services.

The revised strategy recognises the imperative for prioritizing the foundational constraints, the importance of innovation and the need to create an enabling environment to promote financial inclusion. Despite the current implementation challenges, there are some emerging opportunities that enhance the prospects of remarkably increasing financial inclusion over the next two and half years (2018-2020). These include: (i) the signing of an MoU in 2018 between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission on digital payment systems. (ii) collaborative efforts between the CBN and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) to create a regulatory sandbox for innovative financial services, (iii) partnership between the Committee of Bank CEOs and the private sector to roll out a 500,000-agent networks nationwide.