“Do not spray, hawk, mutilate, or counterfeit the Naira.” That warning, from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Hakama Sidi Ali, has been repeated at every stop of a nationwide road show the bank calls the CBN Fair. The latest stops were Gombe and Bauchi.
The theme is the same each time: “Driving Alternative Payment Channels as Tools for Financial Inclusion, Growth and Accelerated Economic Development.” Sidi Ali told the Gombe audience that wider use of digital payment platforms would open up access to financial services, stir up economic activity and back the bank’s job of keeping prices, money and the financial system stable. She spoke on behalf of the governor, Olayemi Cardoso.
What the bank pointed to
She said recent policy measures were beginning to pay off, and named a gradual decline in inflation, steady growth in foreign reserves and a calmer foreign exchange market. She also listed three initiatives meant to modernise payments and widen access: the Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028, the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number scheme and the B-Match foreign exchange trading platform.
In Bauchi, Branch Controller Michael Dalyop, represented by Assistant Director Salahu Bello Mohammed, went through the bank’s 2024-2028 strategy. He said foreign exchange reforms had made the market more transparent, unified exchange rates and lifted investor confidence, and that external reserves had passed 50 billion US dollars. Inflation was easing, he added, as the bank works toward a single-digit rate. The recapitalisation of the banking sector, in his words, had strengthened lenders and put them in a better position to support businesses.
Dalyop also had a plain message for households: use a bank rather than keeping large sums of cash at home.
A road show, not a lecture
The fair is built to run both ways. Sidi Ali, represented in Bauchi by Deputy Director Michael Dalyop, said the point was to explain policy and also to hear from people about ways to improve livelihoods. “I therefore urge you all to participate actively and prepare your questions and concerns, which our team will address at the end of the presentations,” she said.
Bauchi was the tenth stop. The programme had already been to Lagos, Abeokuta, Kano, Kaduna, Uyo, Calabar, Enugu, Awka and Gombe. Presentations in Bauchi covered payment system innovations, microfinance, foreign exchange developments, consumer protection, monetary policy and currency management. Regulators, financial service providers, government agencies, security organisations, businesses, students and young people were in the room.
In Gombe, the Branch Controller called the fair an annual public platform for explaining the bank’s policies and taking feedback. Sidi Ali also told Nigerians to take their information only from the bank’s verified channels.
Sources
- CBN promotes alternative payment channels to deepen
- CBN seeks Bauchi residents’ input on digital payments, financial inclusion
