CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA FINANCIAL INCLUSION STRATEGY: A PERFORMANCE REVIEW (2012 - 2022)

Abstract

The performance of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2012 to 2022 was assessed in this paper. The study's specific objectives were to assess the performance of the Central Bank of Nigeria's financial inclusion plan with regard to financial access, financial usage, and extent of financial inclusion. The study employed content analysis, which involves examining earlier works. The study found that financial usage has significantly expanded and that due to technological advancements, several aspects of the plan, such as point-of-sale terminals, are at present not the greatest or optimum channel for offering financial services. The inability of the NFIS to lower financial exclusion to 20% before 2020 was also determined to be a failure. The study concluded that the degree of financial inclusion is still inadequate, especially in the northern regions of Nigeria where religious and cultural variables decreased financial inclusion due to restricted access to financial services. The report suggested that NFIS should work with financial institutions to develop technological and regulatory environments to support the expansion of readily available and reasonably priced digital financial services. The government needs to guarantee that nationwide agent networks quickly expand and that Know Your Customer standards are uniformly applied when opening and managing accounts and mobile wallets across every one of the financial platforms. Since uncontrolled bank fees and charges inflict an unnecessary burden on the most vulnerable members of society, NFIS should develop an atmosphere that is conducive to serving the most excluded.