Members of the Association of Mobil Money Agents of Nigeria (AMMAN), at the weekend in Lagos, expressed readiness to cooperate towards ensuring the attainment of the country’s financial inclusion targets.
Speaking at the maiden Lagos State chapter symposium in Ikeja, the state capital, with the Theme Agency Banking Network: The next level to enhance Financial inclusion in Nigeria, experts representing key stakeholders spoke on the need to take financial products and services to rural communities. They listed these as including banking, micro-insurance and pension products, that will enable the country to achieve its target of 80% financial inclusion and 70m active Bank Verification Numbering (BVN) by the ned of 2020.
To achieve this, Victor Olojo, National President of AMMAN, said in his welcome address, said requires that members render their services in a professional manner, knowing that a high level of integrity is necessary, even as safety and caution must be at the back of their minds.
Also, members of the Shared Agents Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF) present at the occasion expressed readiness to support the agents in their task of achieving their set target of 500,000 membership strength in the coming months through agent networks in rural communities.
Also speaking at the occasion, the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Zubairu Muazu, emphasized the need for security and safety when agents are locating their premises. This is because of the environment where the office is located matters a lot.
The Police Commissioner, who was represented by the District Police Officer (DPO) of Alausa in the state capital, also harped on good record-keeping so as not to expose customers to criminally minded persons.
The Lagos state chairman of AMMAN, Olowu Babs Azeez, applauded the CBN for the agency banking programme which is today creating jobs for Nigerians, who earn a minimum of N40,000 monthly, which is more than the new minimum wage of N30,000.
He listed basic financial services provided by the agents across Lagos and other states of the country, in general, to include as Cash-in, Cash-out, funds transfer, utility bills payment, and airtime purchase. The agents, he stressed, engage government disbursements, and remote enrolment on Bank Verification Number (BVN) to enable the country to achieve its estimated 60m registration target, in addition to reducing the number under-banked.
Azeez added, “that the agents are also trying to play their role in CBN’s vision of achieving 80% financial inclusions.”
Photo caption: Participants at the agency banking seminar listing to the representative of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police on Friday in Lagos.
