Speaking to Senior
students of the National Comprehensive secondary school in Oji Avenue, near
Glass Industry Road, Ogbo Hill, Aba, Abia State during the recently held 2015
Financial Literacy Campaign as part of the Global Money Week activities, the
Bank’s Customer Experience and Analytical Officer, Kikanwa Akpenyi, said the
intention of CBN in launching the Financial Literacy campaign is to teach
children and young adults financial responsibility as well as create a more
enabling environment where students can understand what happens in banks where
their deposits are lodged.
"The need to be prudent has never become more important than
now. The young generation need to learn, as a matter of compulsion, why it is
important to be knowledgeable about where they keep their funds. So financial
management, money management, savings, how to spend, how to be prudent are
basically the things that are needed to be able to live a successful and
fulfilled life as an adult; these are the things that are taught during the
financial literacy sessions".
She noted that the initiative prepares the children for the
future as they learn and develop skills that prepare them on how to manage
needs and wants so as to become more prudent and able to make more choices when
it comes to finances.
"And for the larger society, it does not end here; we have
proposed that it should go to the artisans, market women and those who do not
know a lot of things about banking. Most of these people just have an idea, but
they need more knowledge. For this reason, the financial literacy initiative
should be imparted to the larger society", she said
In his own contribution, Mr. Oturu Emmanuel of Junior
Achievers of Nigeria, an NGO that partners with the CBN for the 2015 Literacy
Day, said, "The efforts of Heritage Bank and others in taking financial
literacy to the students deserve commendation because the future of every
country is in the hands of the youths and we have to move from a job seeking
generation to a job creating generation. Our vision as a country to build
business conscientious leaders with work readiness and entrepreneurship acumen
will be greatly boosted by this campaign".
He counselled that if the students would apply everything
they learnt during the exercise, they would be sure of a safe and wealthy
future.
Experience Centre Manager at Heritage Bank’s Port Harcourt
Branch, Mr. Figbene Briggs, noted that
the outing was impressive as the students and teachers who took part in the
exercise displaced hunger for information and knowledge on money management and
wealth preservation.
“The commitment of
the students and teachers, in terms of their eagerness to have the knowledge we
bring to bear, goes a long way to show that they have interest in being
successful as they grow up. As a Bank, we intend to create more awareness among
the Nigerian youths on the need to be hard working and financially disciplined
so that they will make less mistakes in financial matters and excel in their
chosen career”, he said.
The principal of the school, Mr Stanley Nwigwe and the
teachers all expressed happiness for the programme. They also appealed to the
bank to continue to strengthen its commitment and relationship with the school.
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