The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Thursday, held a Fair in Benue State tagged, ‘CBN Fair’ to intimate Nigerians on its policies, interventions and programmes that could be leveraged for financial stability and overall economic development.
This is even as the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed at the Fair that Nigeria is the first country in Africa to launch the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the e-Naira.
He added at the CBN Fair with a theme, ‘Promoting Financial Stability and Economic Development’ in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, that the essence of the e-Naira was to ensure financial stability.
Represented by the Director, Corporate Communications Department of CBN, Osita Nwanisoba, the CBN governor explained that the fair was organised to educate and inform the public about CBN policies, interventions and programmes the public can leverage on to better their standard of living.
According to him, “another thing is to disabuse the public minds on the wrong information trending on the social media about all the financial institutions, we want to assure you that our financial system is strong sound and safe to keep your money.
“Apart from sensitising the public about the CBN programmes and policies, we also want to hear from our customers about CBN interventions, services, among other things because as a customer of financial prudence, we would like to know what are the challenges you encounter in your everyday transactions and how is your bank treating you?”
The CBN governor also enumerated five key areas the fair will focus on, to include consumer protection department, currency operation department, payment system management department, development finance department and e-Naira.
He further urged all the unemployed youths with good business ideas in the State to grab the opportunities of the CBN Agric Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme to access funds without collateral to pursue their dreams and aspirations.
He added that, “we own our customers a duty and responsibility to let them know that the Bank they interface or interact with does not do anything to hurt them by ensuring that they are very much aware about their rights.”
In a goodwill message, the Controller of the Makurdi CBN branch, John Itaha, who commended the CBN Governor for putting together the fair to sensitise customers on how to go about the laudable programmes of the apex bank, said it will go a long way in helping them to display their new offers interms of financial services to improve the livelihood and socio-economic wellbeing of Nigerians.
