Financial literacy has become one of the top priorities of Nigeria’s monetary authority, the Central Bank of Nigeria and it has launched SabiMONI, an e-learning platform designed to teach as many people as possible with up-to-date financial tools and resources at no cost. It is free for all.
SabiMONI through various courses and modules teaches learners how to manage their money, equipping them with the knowledge and skills required to discern among so many financial products and services. It is self-paced. This means one can enrol anytime. However, there are deadlines to completing tasks, counted in the number of days. The courses are built in partnership with technology leaders and designed to meet industry needs.
The financial literacy e-learning platform aims at equipping beneficiaries with the knowledge and skills to manage their individual, household and business finances effectively, to build their confidence in using financial products and services and to strengthen their participation in the formal financial sector.
Emphasis is on owners and employees of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises as well as other economically active segments of the Nigerian society, with a focus on the special needs of women and the youth.
Financial literacy impacts almost every aspect of life. Whether one goes to the market, discusses family budget, manages a business or prepares for retirement, one’s understanding of how money works has a strong effect on the quality of life.
To achieve financial inclusion for all, financial Literacy is a critical step. A study by Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos revealed that 80 per cent of Nigerians who save their money at home (rather than a bank) had lower financial literacy scores.
The revised National Financial Inclusion Strategy identifies low financial literacy as a major barrier to financial inclusion – as an estimated one-third of the Nigerian adult population lack financial literacy skills, which negatively impacts their likelihood of using financial services.
“In the age of cashless and electronic transactions, digital financial literacy is more vital than ever. Improving financial literacy rates means that consumers will be better equipped to make optimal choices,” Aishah Ahmad, deputy governor, Central Bank of Nigeria said in a LinkedIn post Wednesday.
Ahmad added that optimal choices “will enhance their use of financial products, pose lower credit and default risk, reinforce innovation and competitive pressure on financial institutions for better products and services, and promote Financial System Stability.”
The newly launched SabiMONI e-Learning portal transforms existing financial literacy policies and initiatives – and its digital format allows for a wider reach, better tailoring, and more convenience, flexibility and scalability at a lower cost.
It will also generate critical data for evaluating learning effectiveness and serve as input for improved policy design. A self-paced, certificated programme, SabiMONI can be customised to deliver all types of literacy programmes to a range of users. Undoubtedly, SabiMONI will be transformative for the design and delivery of national financial literacy programmes.
Courses
There are three courses and all three are designed to train trainers, who will spread the knowledge and skills acquired in their communities. Below are three of the courses.
National Peer Group Educator Programme (NAPGEP), this programme leverages on the platform of the National Youth Services Corps (NYSC) to train selected Volunteer Corps Members (VCMs) on Financial Literacy in order to deliver financial education in rural communities and environs during their Community Development Service (CDS).
It trains the trainer to equip VCMs with skills required to teach financial literacy at their various places of primary assignment and also improve the quality of their financial decisions. The target audience are Corps members.
Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF), training aims to equip its agents with basic financial literacy knowledge to better serve their clients, improve their businesses and their level of financial literacy with the goal of promoting the uptake of financial services, especially at the grassroots.
The objective of the training programme is to equip Super Agents and Agents with skills required to cascade and teach financial literacy at their place of business and community.
Certified Financial Literacy Trainer (CFLT), this programme is for individuals who are interested in becoming Certified Financial Literacy Trainers. A trainer certificate is given to an individual who has taken all the Financial Literacy Modules and Learning Methodology on the SabiMONI platform, obtained a mark of 60 per cent and undergone an assessment session (physical/virtual) to demonstrate that he or she can teach and transfer the knowledge to others. The objective of the trainer programme is to equip trainers with skills required to teach financial literacy in their various communities.
