Shettima urges skills investment in youths, women to unlock demographic dividend

The Federal Government on Monday flagged off a free nationwide financial inclusion and financial literacy training programme targeting 10 million Nigerians, aimed at expanding access to financial services while strengthening digital and enterprise skills across the country.

Vice President Kashim Shettima said Nigeria can only fully harness its demographic dividend if young people and women are deliberately prioritised and equipped with the skills, competence and ethical grounding required to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital economy.

The initiative, driven by the Office of the Vice President through the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion (PreCEFI), is designed to provide Nigerians—particularly women and youths—with essential financial knowledge, investment awareness and digital competencies needed for sustainable wealth creation.

To operationalise the programme, the Office of the Vice President, through PreCEFI, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with six professional bodies to jointly develop training curricula, certification pathways, digital skills initiatives and mentorship platforms aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s financial and enterprise workforce.

The professional bodies are the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN); Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS); National Institute of Credit Administration (NICA); Chartered Risk Management Institute of Nigeria (CRMI); and the Nigeria Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NIIE).

Speaking at the official flag-off ceremony at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, Shettima described the MoU as more than a formal agreement, noting that it represents “a strategic national investment in capacity as infrastructure—the human, institutional and ethical foundations upon which inclusive growth must rest.”

He explained that the Aso Accord on Economic and Financial Inclusion, which PreCEFI is mandated to implement, recognises that financial inclusion extends beyond access to financial services and must be anchored on competence, trust and capability.

According to him, Nigeria “cannot build a one-trillion-dollar economy on weak skills, fragmented standards or disconnected professional ecosystems.”

The Vice President said the MoU establishes a structured framework to harness the collective expertise of the professional institutes in advancing financial inclusion through capacity building, advocacy, digital transformation, youth empowerment and support for small and medium-scale practitioners.

He stressed that without skilled accountants, bankers, credit administrators, risk professionals and innovators, financial inclusion would remain “a slogan rather than a system,” adding that the collaboration places strong emphasis on women, youths and digital transformation.

Charging the implementing partners to prioritise execution over documentation, Shettima formally declared the commencement of the free nationwide training programme for 10 million Nigerians.

Earlier, President of ICAN, Mallam Haruna Nma Yahaya, commended the Tinubu administration for what he described as bold economic reforms that created the enabling environment for the initiative, assuring the Federal Government of the institute’s full professional support.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of WAWU Africa, the programme’s technical partner, Mr Emmanuel Lennox, pledged the company’s readiness to deliver the digital platform and enabling environment required for effective implementation.

Explaining the rationale behind the programme, the Technical Adviser to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion, Dr Nurudeen Abubakar Zauro, said exclusion is often driven not only by lack of access but also by limited skills, weak institutional capacity and inadequate professional support.

He noted that financial inclusion is achieved when individuals and institutions are equipped to use financial infrastructure responsibly, productively and sustainably.

The highlight of the event was the formal signing of the MoU between the Federal Government and the six professional bodies.