The Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed that no fewer than 43,000 persons in Anambra State have so far benefited in the intervention empowerment scheme of the bank.
This is just as the apex bank said, inspite of the figure, the state is still lagging behind in the area of financial literacy and low response to intervention schemes.
The Anambra State branch controller of the CBN, Mr Benedict Maduagwu, stated this on Thursday during a two-day financial sensitisation fair held simultaneously in Awka, the Anambra State capital, and Owerri, the Imo State capital.
Maduagwu, who represented the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, lamented that despite the abundance of skills and talent in the state, only 44,374 persons from the state have benefitted from the intervention empowerment scheme.
He expressed dissatisfaction on the number of people who have benefitted from the scheme and called on the participants to engage the various intervention programmes of the CBN for the growth of the economy.
He added that the programme was designed to sensitise the people of the state on financial literacy with a view to getting them updated with the requirements of the CBN intervention programmes so that they can get funds to expand their businesses.
He said, “Anambra people have been participating in various CBN intervention programmes, but the truth is that the number has not been encouraging.
Since inception, only 44,374 beneficiaries have been registered in the state in CBN intervention programmes, yet Anambra is a state with abundance of talents, skills and inventors.
“The challenges of collateral have been the major obstacle, the reason resource persons had been invited to enlighten the residents. What we want is the growth of the economy.”
Various resource persons from the apex bank, such as the consumer protection department, currency operations department, payment system management department and development finance department, educated the participants on the operational framework of the bank and its intervention schemes.
There was also a paper presentation on eNaira.
The representative of the state government, Pauly Onyeka, who is the Commissioner for Housing, commended the apex bank for the fair, stating that Anambra should not for any reason be lagging behind because it is a state where talents and skills abound.
“In fact, if the CBN has a N10tn budget for a programme, Anambra should get N1tn, because we have people who can utilise such funds well. We are hopeful that with this workshop, our people will learn to apply for programmes like this,” he added.
Some of the beneficiaries commended the CBN for the interventions, saying that the scheme had enhanced and expanded their business output.