The Peer Advisory Service (PAS) on implementing National Financial Inclusion Strategies (NFIS) kicked off this week in Abuja, Nigeria. Co-hosted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the five-day event that takes place from 26-30 March, 2018 and is designed for selected AFI member institutions who have a critical need for hand-holding support in developing the expertise needed to implement NFIS.

“The ongoing review of the Financial Inclusion Strategy document to include new frontiers to financial access — like digital financial services (DFS) — and the renewed focus on gender, among others, would be able to propel us towards our overall target in 2020,” emphasized Dr. M. A. Olaitan, Director of Development Finance from CBN during his welcome address at the five-day PAS training.

Engaging presentations from the CBN team provided in-depth knowledge on all the components of the Nigerian NFIS. The most learning discussions have been around the Governance structure of the National Financial Inclusion Steering Committee and the role of the Financial Inclusion Secretariat, monitoring and evaluation of NFIS and the integration of digital financial services as the most secure, efficient and cost- effective way of scaling up financial inclusion

“2018- 2020 is a very critical period for CBN in achieving the ambitious targets it has set for achieving financial inclusion,” conveys Madhurantika Moulick, Capacity Building Manager from the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), during her opening remarks.

In the past six months, CBN — an active member of the AFI network — has been instrumental in setting new targets, redefining strategies and lining up new activities. Among these activities is setting up the Financial Inclusion State Steering Committee to boost its NFIS implementation.

CBN has also issued a new target for Deposit Money Banks and all Microfinance Banks in the Federal Capital Territory towards achieving their overall goal of 80 percent financial inclusion target for all adult population in Nigeria, by 2020.

The aim of PAS is to share the learnings from each step throughout the financial inclusion journey. A platform like PAS bring members of the AFI network closer together in contributing to global targets of financial inclusion. Due to the nature of PAS that is catered for smaller groups, participants have the opportunity to interact, learn and exchange knowledge in more depth — an experience that is limited with trainings on a larger scale.

During this five-day training, delegates will also get the unique opportunity to witness the National Financial Inclusion Working Group and Technical Committee Meetings as observers.