- Seeks affordable credit for women, youths, small businesses
- Says opening bank accounts alone can’t defeat poverty, identifies high charges, documentation, digital divide as barriers
By Beifoh Osewele
Nigeria must provide affordable credit, simplify documentation and reduce transaction costs to bring nearly 29 million adults currently excluded from the formal financial system into the economic mainstream, the Director of Financial Services at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Odunayo Ani, has said.
Ani also advocated stronger consumer protection, financial and digital literacy, improved rural banking infrastructure and targeted support for women, youths and small businesses.
She spoke as a panellist on Day Two of the Institute of Change Management (ICM) Annual Conference 2026 in Lagos.
Speaking on “Inclusive Growth in a Changing Economy: Expanding Opportunities through Financial and Economic Inclusion,” Ani warned that the growing number of bank accounts in Nigeria masked a deeper crisis, as millions of citizens still lacked affordable credit, emergency savings and the capacity to improve their livelihoods.
She said Nigeria must move beyond opening accounts to creating genuine opportunities for citizens to earn, save, invest, obtain credit and build sustainable businesses.
Citing the 2023 Access to Financial Services Survey by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, Ani said 26 per cent of Nigerian adults—about 28.9 million people—remained outside the formal financial system.
Even among those with access, she said financial security had deteriorated sharply. Only 16 per cent of Nigerian adults were financially healthy in 2023, down from 28 per cent in 2020, while 84 per cent ran out of money at some point during the year.
She added that most Nigerians could not raise emergency funds within one week to deal with a medical crisis or other urgent needs.
“Having a bank account does not necessarily mean having economic opportunities. The account gives you access, but what matters is whether you can use that access to save, invest, borrow, grow a business or improve your livelihood,” she said.
Ani identified distance, cumbersome documentation, high transaction costs and the digital divide as the four major barriers shutting millions of Nigerians out of formal financial services.
She said financial institutions remained largely concentrated in urban centres, forcing rural residents to travel long distances, often on poor roads and at considerable cost, to access basic services.
According to her, demands for utility bills, Bank Verification Numbers, National Identification Numbers and other documents also exclude many low-income Nigerians.
High bank charges, minimum-balance requirements, poor network coverage, limited access to smartphones, low digital literacy and fear of fraud, she added, had made formal financial services difficult or unattractive to many citizens.
Ani acknowledged that mobile money, point-of-sale agents and fintech platforms had expanded access. She said the number of banking agents rose from 83,560 in 2019 to about 1.92 million in 2024, covering all 774 local government areas and helping to open more than 19 million accounts.
She, however, stressed that access was only the first step.
“A woman may have a bank account and still be unable to obtain an affordable loan. A young person may have a digital wallet and still lack the skills or income to build a sustainable livelihood. A business may accept digital payments and still struggle to obtain funding or reach larger markets,” she said.
Ani said genuine economic inclusion required affordable business loans, insurance, financial and digital literacy, employable skills and access to wider markets.
She described micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as the backbone of the Nigerian economy, accounting for 96.9 per cent of businesses, 87.9 per cent of the workforce and 46.32 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
According to her, small businesses need affordable financing to buy equipment, meet working-capital requirements and take advantage of emerging opportunities.
Drawing from her experience at NIMASA, Ani cited the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund as an example of how businesses could be held back by the absence of a clear route to finance.
She said the fund remained undisbursed for more than two decades while Nigerian shipowners struggled to raise money to acquire vessels. More than 60 operators, she added, applied almost immediately after the Federal Government authorised NIMASA to open the fund to qualified shipowners.
“The demand had always been there. What had been missing was a clear financing route,” she said.
Ani, who is also President of the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association Nigeria, expressed concern that only 47 per cent of women had bank accounts, compared with 58 per cent of men.
She attributed the gap to low or irregular incomes, the distance and cost of accessing banks and difficulties obtaining the required documents.
Ani said many women in shipping, logistics and trade had viable businesses and the determination to expand but lacked adequate financing.
Supporting women-owned businesses, she argued, was not merely a social responsibility but a sound economic decision, as available lending data showed lower default rates among women-led enterprises.
She urged banks, regulators and other institutions to stop measuring financial inclusion solely by the number of accounts opened. The focus, she said, should be on whether customers actively used the accounts and whether the services helped them save, obtain credit, withstand emergencies or grow their businesses.
Ani also called for transparent charges, reliable transaction tracking and effective complaint-resolution channels, warning that hidden fees and unresolved failed transactions could destroy public trust and drive customers back to cash and informal alternatives.
Describing financial inclusion as a change-management issue, she said institutions must explain reforms clearly, implement them systematically and regularly measure their impact.
She maintained that economic transformation would only be meaningful when farmers, traders, women, young people and small businesses were equipped to participate and prosper.
“The future will not favour the economies that change the fastest. It will favour those that ensure that a larger number of people are equipped to participate in that change,” she said.
The two-day ICM Annual Conference 2026 brought together business leaders, policymakers, financial experts and change-management professionals to examine responses to technological, economic and workplace disruptions.
The conference, themed, “Unleashing Change, Accelerating Impact: Harnessing Transformation to Drive Personal Growth and Business Excellence,” featured discussions on artificial intelligence, continuous learning, diversity and inclusion, taxation, governance, financial services and sustainable investment.
