Non-compliance with CPS worries stakeholders SUPER TUESDAY
Rising concern over audits that keep airlines grounded
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Tuesday, December 17, 2013
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www.nationalmirroronline.net
FLIGHT SCHEDULE Arik Air
Okonjo-Iweala
Sanusi
As Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC and Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, strategise on financial inclusion, experts say collaboration among stakeholders the way to go, UDO ONYEKA, reports.
T
he operations of financial system are crucial to people’s savings, credit, payment and risk management needs. More importantly, the inclusiveness of this system tends to benefit the poor and other disadvantaged groups in the society. The heightened interest in Financial Inclusion, FI, by Nigeria can be traced to its effect on financial development and economic growth. For instance, many studies have shown that financial development tends to increase economic growth and reduce inequality and poverty. This is because improvements in the financial sector is expected to aid savings, capital formation and ease the external financing constraints that companies and entrepreneurs face which then lead to higher growth. Increased savings can be engendered by including the poor and disadvantaged groups in the formal financial system, considering their large numbers. According to Dr Afolabi Olowookere of African Centre for Shared Development Capacity, University of Ibadan, this small saving group represents a means of financial diversification, which can enhance financial stability and economic growth of a country. He said it has been shown that in countries
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Imperative of expanding financial inclusion with low levels of financial inclusion, households and small firms resort to informal financial services and these can be counter-productive. Olowookere said considering the benefit of financial inclusion, many economies including Nigeria have come to recognise the potential of inclusive financial systems, which is now becoming an important political issue to financial markets regulators and operators. According many experts, Nigerians financial sector has witnessed significant developments in recent years as both regulators and private operators have instituted policies and strategies for its expansion. Although many of these efforts have always been targeted at financial inclusion, experts believe that what remains, however, is for the impact of the country’s financial sector development to reflect in the growth of the real sector. For instance, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, Mr. Goodie Ibru, said over 80 per cent Nigerian enterprises still describe poor access to finance as the most difficult problem they face. National Mirror gathered that Nigeria ranks low in indicators of financial inclusion, even among its peers. For instance, the World Bank Global Findex data shows that only about 30 per cent of Nigerian adults have accounts with formal financial institutions. This value is below those of
Airlines to earn $12.9bn net profit in 2013 –IATA 21
Lag-Abj:07.15, 09.15, 10.20, 13.05, 15.20, 16.20, 16.50,18.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun). Abj-Lag: 07:15, 09.40, 10.20, 12.15, 15.15, 16.15, 17:10, (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun); 12.15, 15.15, 16.15 (Sun) Lag-PH: 07:15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.10, 17.15 (Mon-Fri); 07.30, 11.40, 15.50 (Sat) 11.50, 3.50, 17.05 Sun) Abj-PH: 07.15, 11.20, 15.30 (Mon-Fri) 07.15, 16.00 (Sat) 13.10, 16.00 Sun) PH-Abj: 08.45, 12.50, 17.00 (MonFri) 08.45, 17.30 (Sat) 14.40, 17.30 (Sun) Abv-Beni:08.00, 12.10 (MonFri/Sat)08.56, 12.10 (Sun) BeninAbj:09.55,13.30
Aero Contractors
Lag-Abj: 06.50, 13.30, 16.30, 19.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun), 12.30 (Sun) 16.45 (Sat) Abj-Los: 07.30, 13.00, 19.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat, 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 (Sun, 18.30 Sat) Lag-Benin: Kenya and South Africa, which have values of 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/ 42 per cent and 54 per cent respectively. Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat) Therefore as parts of its efforts to address Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 the problem of low level of financial inclusion, (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat) 14.00 Nigeria has put together a National Finan(Sun)Lag-Owe: 7.45am, 2pm daily cial Inclusion Strategy, which is designed to increase the number of Nigerians that are included in the formal financial sector to 70 per cent by the year 2020. To achieve this laudable objective, financial experts have said that collaboration among financial sector stakeholders is very crucial. Olowookere said that an important section in this Strategy considers the issues of monitoring and evaluation, adding that this is to measure and ensure that the Strategy has the desired impact by collecting a comprehensive data from financial industry stakeholders twice a year. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi financial consumer protection efforts and financial literacy initiatives of the CBN would help bring people on board the formal financial system, especially when the financial system is sound. He said the key mandate of the CBN is the promotion of a sound financial system, which would instill confidence in users of financial services. Sanusi said “as regulators, we have a responsibility to maintain public confidence
IRS
Lagos-Abuja 7.30 8.30 7.45 8.45 09.30 10.30 10.30 11.30 12.30 13.30 14.30 15.30 16.30 17.30 Lagos-Kano 08.00 09.15 10.30 11.45 14.30 15.40 18.15 19.30 Los-Maid&Yola (Mon-Thur) 09.30 11.30 Fri- Sun 10.30 12.30 KanoLagos 07.30 08.45 14.00 15.15 17.30 18.45 Kano-Abj 10.45 11.30 Abj-Lagos 09.00 10.30 11.00 12.00 12.00 13.00
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