Financial Literacy Goals: What The Fintech Ecosystem Must Do -Inuwa

The Fintech Ecosystem in Nigeria has a big role to play if the country must realise its financial literacy goals.

Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa who stated this point recently, also overviewed what the key role for fintech ecosystem looks like.

Inuwa mentioned increased collaboration among key players for the purpose of sharing knowledge, assets and competences.

Speaking at the 6th edition of the annual FirstBank FinTech Summit on “Policy and Infrastructure: Navigating Financial Regulations for Fintech Innovations”, held in Lagos, he said these would be in line with the present administration’s focus on Reforming the Economy for Sustained Inclusive Economic Growth.

Inuwa said Accelerating Diversification through Industrialisation and Digitisation, and Improving Governance for Effective Service Delivery were also part of the federal government’s aspirations moving forward.

He emphasised NITDA’s regulatory approach, based on a triple helix model, stating that it was not just about imposing standards but actively creating and supporting markets.

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The DG also outlined objectives of the Regulatory Intelligence Framework developed by the agency, saying that it included creating marketing values, enabling innovations, protecting consumers and effectively discharging services.

“To achieve this, we came up with a way which we call the participatory framework or policy dialogue for any regulation. This is because at the heart of everything we do is co-designing and co-creation,” he said.

Speaking on working with the Fintech ecosystem, he noted that collaboration was instrumental in successfully implementing Nigeria’s cashless policy which the agency did in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

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’“NITDA worked with CBN to come up with a cashless policy, which gave birth to the fintech industry we are talking about today.”

“This led to the banks to start upgrading their infrastructures, both hard and software, and the FinTech identified gaps and started coming up with solutions that can bridge the gaps left by the banks,” he added.

The DG however stated that the agency is working with the Federal Inland Revenue Service and some other stakeholders to develop guidelines for electronic invoicing which will create opportunities for the Fintech.

“As a regulator with a focus on facilitating financial inclusion, we need to strengthen unified regulations and policy-making, because if you make policies without having the implementers in the room, it will be difficult for them to implement, “ he averred.

He also elaborated on NITDA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide as an essential factor for financial inclusion, underscoring the launch of a National Digital Literacy Framework to integrate digital skills in formal education.

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Highlighting the agency’s efforts at fostering digital literacy and cultivating talents, he disclosed that the agency has engaged in collaborations with the Ministry of Education in integrating digital literacy into curriculum and also, with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in training over 17,000 Youth Corp members annually.

He added that the initiative is expected to provide basic digital literacy to millions, and aims to engage artisans, market women, senior citizens, and others from the informal sectors.

Inuwa further addressed Nigeria’s data sovereignty issues, particularly regarding reliance on foreign cloud services.

He noted that building in-country cloud capabilities is vital for national security and for empowering local FinTechs.

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“Without operational sovereignty, we cannot fully control or secure our digital assets,” he stated, mentioning ongoing partnerships with hyperscale providers and local data centres to create cloud infrastructure within Nigeria.

The potential of the Fintech Ecosystem in the country has variously been articulated, with many urging the government to do all possible towards maximising these.