DUTSE – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Tuesday that 70 per cent of adults in Jigawa were excluded from formal financial services.
The CBN Head of Financial Induction Strategy Coordinating Office, Mr Joseph Attah, made the information known at a one-day sensitisation workshop on Financial Inclusion Strategy in Dutse.
Attah described the attitude of the people in the state as bad for economic growth, saying the situation in Jigawa was worse than the national data of 43 per cent adults not accessing formal financial services.
He said that in 2010, 43.3 per cent out of 84.7 per cent of the adult population of Nigeria were financially excluded.
Attah said 54 per cent of those involved were women and that 80 per cent lived in rural areas.
In an address of welcome, the Jigawa Branch Controller of CBN, Alhaji Danjuma Muhammed, said there was a need for all stakeholders in Jigawa to key into the financial inclusion strategy.
He said the step was necessary to accelerate development in the state.
Mohammed said government, banks, corporate organisations and other stakeholders had a responsibility to work for the development, especially in fighting poverty.
The workshop was attended by artisans, traders and small-scale business owners. (NAN)