Buhari Urges Banks To Take Opportunity Of AfCTA’s N3.4 Trillion

The Nigerian finance industry has been urged by the Federal Government to make use of the opportunity opened up by the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The government says the African free trade will create a $3.4 trillion opportunity and deepen the financial technology space for the industry.

President Muhammadu Buhari, while speaking at the 15th Annual Banking and Finance Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, said an expanding infrastructure and a growing financial technology are also new opportunities which players in the Nigerian finance industry could leverage to boost revenue and multiply jobs.

“In repositioning itself, the finance sector would serve not just as an intermediary for lenders and borrowers but in creating a new ecosystem consisting of platforms where ordinary Africans can buy and sell their locally- made products despite currency disparity as being practised on the Pan- African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), a brainchild of Afrexim Bank,” Buhari, who was represented by the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, said.

Buhari further said that the industry has the ability to deepen the market and expand the product offering to finance Nigeria’s infrastructure and business investment needs while developing strategies to drive insurance penetration in Nigeria.