SGIP advocates policy reforms for savings groups

Savings Group Implementers Platform (SGIP) has called for policy and regulatory reforms to accelerate financial and economic inclusion for disadvantaged groups, especially at the grassroots.

Country Director, CARE Nigeria, Dr Hussaini Abdul, observed policy and regulation as essential to foster an enabling environment for savings groups to thrive and continue to cater for disadvantaged groups in providing informal financial services.

He stated this at a National Savings Group Conference organised by CARE Nigeria in partnership with SGIP, with the theme, ‘Accelerating Financial and Economic Inclusion: The Role of Savings Groups in Nigeria’, yesterday, in Abuja.

Abdu said: “Recognising the crucial nexus between policy framework and savings groups’ success, we endeavour to champion policy and regulatory reforms and advocate government initiatives that foster an enabling environment for savings groups.”

According to him, reviewing the present state of savings groups in Nigeria will give a broader understanding, spotlight opportunities, challenges and pathways for sustainability among others, even as 39 per cent of informal financial services are from savings.

In her keynote on the future of savings groups, former Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment, Maryam Uwais, said: “Savings and credit groups have long been trusted in rural communities worldwide.”

Despite traditional exclusion from formal banking, recent public policy initiatives in Africa aim at boosting financial inclusion and alleviating policy through such groups.

“Savings groups in Nigeria are as old as the Nigerian financial systems as they continue to target the poor in providing the much-needed financial reprieve through group contributions to support members.”

She added that the informal financial sector had become a movement characterised by rapid growth due to its flexibility, as it allowed groups to support each other financially.

Technical Adviser to the President on Financial Inclusion, Dr Nuruddeen Zauro, explained that President Bola Tinubu’s government was opening up avenues for accessing finance for growth and economic development.

According to him, about 36 per cent of Nigerians are unbanked, and based on records, a large chunk of Nigerians is multi-dimensionally poor.

He added: “These are the challenges we met, but government is working to close these gaps. The President and his Vice are people who understand these challenges very clearly. This is seen in the economic programmes we are rolling out in the country.

“Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda attaches importance to financial inclusion, economic inclusion and empowerment.”