A new survey has revealed that 56.3 million
adults, representing 64.1 per cent of the adult population, do not have bank
accounts.
The survey carried out by Enhancing Financial
Innovation and Access, an independent financial sector development
organisation, showed that only 28.6 million people, representing 32.5 per cent
of adult population have bank accounts.
The report, titled, ‘EFInA Access to Financial
Services in Nigeria 2012 Survey,’ made available to our correspondent on
Friday, showed that “62.6 per cent of adult males are unbanked while 72.8 per
cent of adult females are unbanked.”
It also said 76.2 per cent of the rural
population had no bank accounts.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, EfINA,
Ms. Modupe Ladipo, the banked group refers to people that currently have access
to or use a deposit money bank, in addition to having any of these products –
ATM card, credit card, savings account, current account, fixed deposit account,
mortgage, overdraft, loan, and Islamic banking product.
Of the total adult population, 4.6 million
adults, representing 5.2 per cent of the adult population, have a microfinance
bank account.
In a bid to increase the growth of financial
inclusion in the country, the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido
Sanusi said on Thursday that the regulator would issue the draft framework of
agency banking in December.
Sanusi had said, “We are working on a number of
things. For example, the number of agents, the relationship among the
telecommunications companies and some other things. But by December, we should
issue the draft framework.”
The CBN governor also said there had been some
improvement in the move to drive financial inclusion but added that there was
still a long way to go.
A previous survey by EfINA last year had
indicated that 52.8 million of the country’s adult population saved money
regularly. But the survey showed that only 20.5 million of the 52.8 million were
doing so in banks.
This, according to experts, confirms a widely
accepted industry statistics that there are about 22 million bank accounts in
the country.
The report also found that majority of the 23.8
million people, who kept money at home, were doing so with friends, families or
through informal society or village associations.
The report further revealed that the main reasons
those people did not have bank accounts were irregular income, unemployment and
distance to bank branches. It added that bank proximity was of great concern to
the rural population.
AITEC, the organisers of West Africa’s Mobile
Banking and Money Conference, also said that Nigeria’s unbanked rates were a
reflection of Africa’s average, with only 20 per cent of African families
having bank accounts.
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