The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Institution Training Centre, (FITC), Mrs. Chizor Malize have been scheduled to deliver keynote and lead papers respectively at the third edition of The Industry Summit/Awards in Lagos.

The Industry Summit, formerly The Industry Evening Summit is organised by The Industry Newspaper, one of the foremost business Newspapers in Nigeria and the event is scheduled to hold at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja Lagos on Tuesday, April 26th, 2022.

This year’s event which is third in its series is themed: “Financial inclusion, digital payment and the challenges of banking the unbanked”. The event will be chaired by the Lagos State Governor, His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the special guest of honour is the Akwa Ibom State Governor, His Excellency, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel.

In a statement made available to newsmen recently in Lagos, the convener of the Summit/Awards, and the Editor-in-chief of the Industry Newspapers, Goddie Ofose disclosed that, “the event is envisioned to bring together leaders of thoughts in Nigerian business landscape in order to rev up conversations that would deepen financial inclusion and proffer solution to the challenges of banking the unbanked.

According to him, Nigerians who have access to financial services are reported as having a lack of basic resources and the financial knowledge necessary to carry out transactions, stressing that, lack of education around financial services has likely contributed to low financial inclusion.

He pointed out that, “in a quest to extend financial services to the unbanked, particularly those in remote and rural regions, it is critical that we engender conversation about the viability of agents. Agents are retail storefront operators representing financial services providers with the delivery of financial services.”

“According to EFinA’s 2018 Access to Finance Survey, financial exclusion is highest in rural areas. This is because the traditional model of delivering financial services —  the bank branch — is not sustainable in these areas.” He noted.

The year panel is consisted of Chioma Afe, Group Head, Retail Marketing & Analytic, Access Bank Plc, Cherry Eromosele, Group Chief Marketing & Corporate Communications Officer, Interswitch Nigeria, Chuma Ezirim, Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products, FirstBank, Mr. Kenny Joda, CEO, FibreOne, Mrs. Bola Atta, Group Director for Communication, UBA Plc, David Okeme, Divisional Head Payment Solutions & Vertical Market Systemspecs, Olugbenga Agboola, CEO Flutterwave, Mr. Oti Ukubeyinje, Senior Vice President, Products and Product Marketing, Terragon Babs Ogundeyi, CEO Kuda Microfinance Bank.

The Moderator for the session is Alhaji Mojeed Jamiu, Seasoned financial journalist/publisher of Upshot Reports.

Also, the Awards ceremony will witness conferment of awards on great personalities such as Biodun Shobanjo as Doyen of Advertising in Africa, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State as the Governor, six first ladies from each geopolitical zone with best PET projects, among others.