Ife Ogunfuwa
The Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive, Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has said that telecommunications remained the best enabler in expanding the frontiers of financial inclusion in Nigeria.
He said this at the NCC head office while receiving a team from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the foundation’s consultants, Glenbrooks Partners.
A statement from the NCC said the foundation aimed to explore opportunities for collaboration and partnership to enhance financial inclusion in Nigeria.
At the meeting, Danbatta said the realisation of the centrality of telecommunication to all aspects of the economy had encouraged the commission’s move to identify access gaps and in instituting processes for the expansion of telecom infrastructure across the country.
The EVC said infrastructure companies had been licensed by the commission to roll out fibre from landing ports to the hinterland of Nigeria, especially the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
He expressed the hope that the Federal Government would take a concrete position soon to enable the infracos to commence operations, adding that “fibre is the real solution to the volume of transactions in the financial services sector.”
Danbatta noted that 35 million Nigerians had no access to telecommunications services and lacked access to digital financial services, a condition that undermined financial inclusion.
According to him, this challenge is caused by inadequacy of both wireless and fibre connectivity infrastructure.
“We need to do more investment in both fixed and wireless infrastructure to enable us to reach our target of at least 80 per cent of financial inclusion in about four years,” he emphasised.
He said access to telecom services by distant, isolated, unserved and underserved communities would enable more citizens to embrace digital financial culture.
Danbatta revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria had issued Mobile Money Payment services licence to some mobile network operators to enable them to undertake mobile financial transaction services.
Danbatta therefore advocated renewed greater cooperation and collaboration between the banking and telecommunications sectors to harmonise the cost of transactions for financial services in an equitable manner.
Abiodun Jagun of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who led the delegation comprising Elizabeth Mcquerry of Glenbrook Partners as well as Ifeanyi Monye and Charles Ifedi, who are consultants to Glenbrook, informed the EVC that the foundation requested for the meeting in other to deepen the extant partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria to increase citizens’ access to financial resources.
Jagun said the discussion with the commission was so important because as the NCC was already addressing some infrastructure challenges which were central to connectivity and inclusive access to financial resources by citizens.
She said that understanding the strides made by the commission as well as the challenges it faced would help the foundation to know the nature of collaboration and support to offer without distorting or disrupting the market.
Jagun said the discussions were meant to ensure that the philanthropic opportunities offered by the foundation were supportive and complementary to the digital ecosystem.
Mcquerry also commended the commitment of the Federal Government to expanding access to digital resources, saying that the commitment will trickle down to all agencies of the government.
Mcquerry equally appealed to all stakeholders to work in synergy to ensure increased access and affordability of digital and financial services by people at the bottom of the pyramid. https://punchng.com/telecom-infrastructure-driving-financial-services-danbatta/
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