Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi, yesterday said only a
sound economy could guarantee
security of life and property of
the citizens, adding that the Boko
Haram insurgents would persist
except the economy is fixed.
Sanusi, who spoke in Maiduguri,
at the flag off of CBN Financial
Inclusion Strategy Pilot
Implementation programme,
noted that poverty and
unemployment fuelled Boko
Haram uprising in Borno, which
later spread to some states in the
North.
He maintained that Nigeria
cannot solve the challenges of
Boko Haram until she fixes her
economy. “I believe that at the
heart of Boko Haram crisis in
Borno and other parts of the
country is unemployment and
poverty and we can never fix
security until we fix economy,”
he stressed. The apex bank boss
disclosed that the decision to
establish the Entrepreneurship
Development Centre (EDC) for the
North East, in Borno, was taken
at a Bankers Committee
conference in Calabar last year,
having noted the strategic
position of the state to the
growth of national economy and
the need to improve the
economy of the people of the
area.
He said he believes the effort
would substantially address the
security challenge in the area.
According to him, the financial
inclusion strategy is aimed at
increasing access to financial
services, such as payments,
savings, remittance, pension,
insurance and credit facility at
affordable cost. “Each time
Nigerians discuss Borno, it is
always Boko Haram issue but we
feel people should not be
overwhelmed by the Boko Haram
thing and we should not be
obsessed by it,’ he warned.
Sanusi disclosed that the CBN
would partner with the Borno
government by building a centre
of excellence at the University of
Maiduguri and investing in
development of secondary
schools as parts of the apex
bank’s intervention in the
education sector. He explained
that the EDC was conceived by
the CBN with supports from the
Committee of Bankers to train
youths on various skills. He said
the Financial Inclusion Strategy
programme was designed to
make banking activities and
service closer to the people, even
as he charged the people to use
the opportunity provided by the
information technological
especially with mobile telephone.
Also speaking, Minister of
Communication Technology, Mrs.
Omobola Johnson, disclosed that
over 200 base stations belonging
to two major telecommunication
providers have been destroyed in
Borno, by suspected Boko Haram.
She called on the state
government and communities to
provide adequate security for the
base stations and
telecommunication facilities in
the state, adding that they “are
national facilities though belong
to private communication
companies.” She also disclosed
that more facilities of the
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST)
will be established in other local
governments in the state “where
the services or facilities are
currently not available.”
The minister also noted that
NIPOST services was vital in
getting many Nigerians included
in the CBN project and will
equally be required to drive the
micro-financial banks especially
in the rural areas. Borno State
governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima,
thanked the CBN governor and
the communication minister for
their understanding that job
creation was a better panacea to
tackling youth restiveness and
insurgence, like Boko Haram.
He stated that the state
government had invested N120.5
million on the establishment of
micro-finance banks, stressing
that all the processes have been
completed and now waiting for
the release of the license. While
appealing to telecom companies
to repair their facilities in the
state destroyed by suspected
Boko Haram, he assured that
government “will ensure
maximum security of all the base
stations and telecommunications
facilities in the state.”

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