Last week was the 2023 Global Money Week GMW) was held across the world with financial institutions participating in the annual global awareness-raising campaign that is focused on the importance of ensuring that young people are financially aware, and are gradually acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve financial well-being and financial resilience.
Since its inception in 2012, Nigeira has been one of the countries that participate in the annual event as financial institutions as well as regulators in the industry reach out to young people mostly in secondary school to raise the level of their financial literacy. Throughout the previous 10 editions, starting 2012, the campaign has reached over 53 million children and young people in 176 countries worldwide.
The Global Money Week is organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and according to 2022 data 10,275 organisation from 108 participating countries had reached out to 19.239 million children and young people. Also last year, 16.956 million adults had been reached with 108.318 million people reached indirectly.
Back in Nigeria, The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) along with the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) financial institutions and schools had coordinated the 2022 GMW with 359 organisations participating in the annual awareness week that reached out to 41,445 children.
To celebrate Global Money Week 2022, the CBN in collaboration with the Bankers Committee Sub-Committee on Financial Literacy and Public Enlightenment (FLPE) and other stakeholders had reached out to students in various public schools across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to conduct the School Mentoring Programme amongst others.
The deputy governor, Financial System Stability flagged off the campaign week and admonished students to learn about money matters from an early age and always think about the future when making financial decisions.
While the CBN reached out to eight schools, the Banker’s Committee engaged 339 schools across the six zones using the School Mentoring Curriculum developed by Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) for the Bankers Committee Sub-Committee on Financial Literacy and Public Enlightenment (FLPE). A total of 41,445 students were impacted by the programme.
This year, March 20 to 26 was set aside to increase financial literacy awareness under the theme: “Plan Your Money, Plan Your Future.” The ultimate goal of the campaign is to ensure that all children and young people have access to high-quality financial education, they learn about money matters and are able to take smart financial decisions that can improve their future financial resilience and financial well-being.
The GMW2023 theme aims at raising awareness about the importance of adopting a responsible, informed and forward-looking approach in making financial decisions. It also recognises that future individual financial well-being is strictly linked to the health of the planet and of the society as a whole.
GMW stressed that it is important that children and young people develop sound financial habits, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours from a young age to know how to manage their personal finances throughout their lives and be empowered to make better financial decisions for their future.
The Global Launch represented an opportunity to weigh the importance of thinking about one’s own future when making financial decisions but also in a wider perspective, the importance of financial education as an instrument to favour a more sustainable and inclusive growth.
Speaking during a mentorship programme at Ajao Estate Senior Grammar School in Lagos as part of activities to mark the GMW2023, the managing director and chief executive of 9PSB, Branka Mracajac, stressed the need for children and young people to cultivate a savings culture and plan on investing their savings for future.
The head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, NGX, Mr Clifford Akpolo, speaking on the GMW2023 said, “NGX, as the sustainable exchange championing Africa’s growth recognizes the potential of a financially literate youth population which is crucial to drive economic development.
“The Exchange places a high value on providing young people with the necessary resources to make informed financial decisions and is dedicated to supporting initiatives that promote sustainable spending habits and financial literacy.Our activities for the week have been structured to have optimal impact and reach thousands of young Nigerians, both online and offline.”
On his part, director-general of SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda said, “We are proud to be part of this annual financial awareness campaign highlighting the importance of teaching children & youth about financial education & financial literacy. These sensitisations to Gwagwalada and Nasarrawa to directly speak to the children and youths is another way of highlighting how important this is to the SEC.”
Yuguda emphasised that the Commission was encouraging capital market operators to develop technology so that the market will become more attractive to youths saying, “That is why we are improving our Know Your Customers; we are improving so many things to make it easier for them. That is why we are introducing these fintechs. We are allowing these fintechs to come because we see the fintech as an important gateway for youths to enter the market. We are conscious of that and we are working towards it.”
According to him, the Commission is implementing various initiatives to ensure that products and offerings in the market are accessible to both the young and old which will further deepen the market. Yuguda said, “The average age of that account holder was over 50, and that made us realise that the young people were not participating in this market and when young people are not participating in any market, that market is doomed to fail. “And young people today prefer to do things on their phones; if you have to fill a stack of forms manually young people won’t do it. We want to make investing in the capital market a fun experience.”
