The Federal Government has begun a nationwide capacity-building initiative aimed at expanding financial inclusion by equipping millions of Nigerians with skills needed to participate meaningfully in a modern, technology-driven economy.
Vice President Kashim Shettima said the country’s ability to unlock its demographic potential depends on deliberate investments in competence, ethical standards and institutional strength, particularly among young people and women expected to drive future economic growth.
He explained that the programme focuses on strengthening financial literacy, enterprise development and digital competence, stressing that inclusion must go beyond access to systems and extend to the ability to use them responsibly and productively.
The initiative was formally flagged off on Monday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where the Office of the Vice President, through the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion, signed agreements with six professional bodies to jointly deliver the programme.
Those bodies are the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, National Institute of Credit Administration, Chartered Risk Management Institute and the Nigeria Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Speaking at the event, Shettima described the collaboration as “a strategic national investment in capacity as infrastructure which is the human, institutional, and ethical foundations upon which inclusive growth must rest,” adding that the Aso Accord recognises that “financial inclusion is not achieved by access alone, but by competence, trust, and capability.”
He said the framework would coordinate training, certification, digital skills development and policy engagement, noting that “this MoU therefore establishes a working framework to harness the collective expertise” of the participating institutions to advance inclusion through structured and measurable outcomes.
On his part, ICAN President, Haruna Yahaya, welcomed the initiative, linking it to recent economic reforms and describing the participation of professional bodies as an institutional honour, while pledging continued support for the successful implementation of the programme.
The Chief Executive of WAWU Africa, the programme’s technical partners, Emmanuel Lennox, pledged technical support for the initiative, as the Technical Adviser to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion, Dr. Nurudeen Zauro, warned that “financial inclusion is not achieved by infrastructure alone,” but through skills development, institutional strength and professional capacity.
