Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) yesterday, embarked on an awareness campaign on the importance of ensuring financial literacy among young people to Government Secondary School, Tudun Wada in the zone 4 area of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The aim is to ensure that young people of school age gradually acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve financial wellbeing and financial resilience. The programme was held as part of lined-up events to mark this year’s global money week.
Presenting a paper titled “Plan your Money, plant your Future,” Dr Waziri Galadima of research department in NDIC taught the students on how to save monies earned or received, spend wisely and invest or put their money into something that will increase in value over time to create wealth and be able to give money or resources to help others in need.
Mr Galadima informed them that they can earn money by working at job as (a teacher, a banker, a doctor, police officer, etc) or engage in a business venture by way of creating value for others by offering products (selling groceries) or services (provision of power) that they need or want, and earning money in exchange.
He took them through the various ways to save for short-term goals or long-term goals either in fixed deposit accounts, savings and current accounts.
The students were thought to always make budgets before spending as it will help them track their spending and plan their finances. “This will help you stay on top of your finances, see where your money is going and stop impulse spending! The first step in creating a budget is to separate your needs and your wants. Needs are necessities that you can’t live without, like rent, airtime and transportation,” Galadima stated.
Some of the students showed interest in Galadima’s statement that budget would help them prioritise their needs and help avoid unnecessary spending. “Think about how much money you receive each week, and what you need to spend your money on and what you want to buy,” he explained to the students who thronged the hall.
On his part, Mr. Tanko Yahaya Ibrahim from NDIC took time to educate the students about the mandate of the corporation including the protection of interest of small depositors, promote public confidence and contribute to financial system stability.
Some of the students who the awareness programme was an eye opener, pointed to the disclosure by Mr. Ibrahim that the NDIC is the sole body responsible for the liquidation of failed deposit-taking financial institutions in Nigeria.
Earlier, principal of the school Mr Akor Joseph said the training is an empowerment that will help the students later in life. “You have to develop the habit of savings,” he said in his welcome remarks.
Praising NDIC for the initiative to drive down financial inclusion down to secondary school level, Mr Joseph said such a campaign needs to be done across Nigerian schools for a better savings and investment culture by young Nigerians.
Throughout the global money week editions which commenced in 2012, the campaign has reached over 53 million children and young people in 176 countries worldwide.
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