Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), an AFI member institution, held its Launching of the Financial Inclusion Strategy (FIS) and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) 23-24 October 2012 in Abuja, Nigeria. Vice President of Nigeria Namadi Sambo, the U.N. Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development Her Royal Highness Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, and CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi were all present on the event’s opening day to witness the launch of the national financial inclusion strategy.

“I commend the Central Bank of Nigeria for launching a national financial inclusion strategy … a key element is the time-based action plan,” said Princess Maxima.

Governor Sanusi highlighted the power of the AFI Maya Declaration with 35 countries making commitments to date, and the publication of a national strategy that marks a major milestone on the journey toward achieving 80 percent financial inclusion in Nigeria by 2020 — a goal outlined in the nation’s Maya Declaration Commitment — during his speech at the launch. The CBN continued to touch on the importance of the AFI unique peer to peer learning model used to encourage and enable financial policymakers to interact and exchange knowledge, and emphasized the value of peer learning through the AFI Network to inform the development of national strategy.

The CBN also hosted the first meeting of the AFI Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group that consisted of nine AFI member institutions from eight countries, including; CBN, Ministère de l’Economie et des finances du Sénégal, Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée (BCRG), Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), Banque de la République du Burundi (BRB), Ministère des Finances et de la Planification du Développment Economique (Burundi), Banco de Moçambique (BM), Banque Centrale de Madagascar (BCM) and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The institutions participated in discussions to take stock of current global trends in financial inclusion strategy, and to develop a roadmap for how the group can assist members to develop and implement financial inclusion strategies. 

The meeting concluded with the election of three interim co-chairs; SBP, BM, and the Ministère de l’Economie et des finances du Sénégal. Established in support of AFI’s role as Implementing Partner of the G20 Financial Inclusion Peer Learning Program, the group will hold its next meeting in the first quarter of 2013.