The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has intensified efforts to promote financial literacy among young Nigerians with a sensitisation programme for secondary school students in Cross River State, southern Nigeria.
The financial literacy training was aimed at educating children between the ages of 11 and 17 years on the importance of savings, building wealth through legitimate investment and earnings as well as adopting simple responsible money management strategies during challenges.
The sensitisation programme, which was held at the assembly hall of a beneficiary school, attracted over two hundred children from different secondary institutions including teachers within Calabar, the capital of Cross River State.
Some of the participating students expressed appreciation to the NDIC for the sessions, which they claimed have changed their perception about money and savings.
A junior secondary student, Queen-Sarah Okey said, “the training has educated me about saving for the future. In fact, I have been challenged to start now.”
Another student from the senior secondary class, Chinaza Kalu said, “I learnt that we must take care not to save in banks that are not registered with the CNN (Central Bank of Nigeria). I also learnt that the NDIC works with the CBN to supervise the operations of banks in Nigeria”.
One of the resource persons, the Zonal Controller of NDIC Owerri Zonal Office, Mr. Ugochukwu Obialor gave a brief overview of the corporation, disclosing that the agency was established to protect depositors’ funds and promote confidence in Nigeria’s banking system.
Obialor, who expressed satisfaction with the children’s excitement during the interaction, said the NDIC works closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure banking operations were safe.
He said, “The NDIC is an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria with the CBN and Federal Ministry of Finance holding its share capital in the ratio 60:40, respectively.
“It was established with the responsibility of administering the Deposit Insurance System [DIS] in Nigeria. The DIS is a financial guarantee to protect depositors in the event of imminent or actual failure of their banks, so that depositors do not lose all their funds,”
Financial resilience
Also speaking on the topic: “Beyond Savings: Building Financial Resilience”, the Principal Manager, Communications and Public Affairs, Bokepere Adeghe, described the school outreach as part of NDIC’s corporate social responsibility.
Adeghe, in an interview after the training said, “this is part of our corporate social responsibility as NDIC. It is essential that we start training the children at an early age to understand financial resilience by cultivating good and responsible savings habits.
“The children through this very interactive training needed to learn the principles of legitimate earnings, the principles of separating needs from wants, the benefits of staying focused in the face of challenges order to make wise money choices,” she explained.
A representative of the Cross River State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Ukeh Anashie and a principal of a beneficiary school, Mrs. Aret Onaga commended the NDIC for the campaign initiative for children.
They expressed the hope that the training would discouraged young people from the get-rich-quick mentality and imbue in them the yearning for legitimate investment opportunities to create wealth.
Meanwhile, the NDIC has promised to continue to promote financial literacy among young Nigerians as part of efforts to build a financially informed and economically responsible generation.