ByStanley Opara

EIGHTY per cent of the over 150 million people in Nigeria have no bank accounts, the Director, United Kingdom Trade and Investment, Mr. Peter Stephenson, has said.

He added that 98 per cent of Nigerians had no insurance cover.

Stephenson spoke during the March Breakfast meeting of the Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce held in Lagos.

According to a statement by the Chamber on Friday, Stephenson said the low level of financial inclusion in Nigeria was not encouraging, adding that the figures were negligible, considering the country’s untapped resources that cut across every sector of the economy.

Such resources, according to him, include 34.5 billion barrels oil reserves, 187 billion cu/ft gas reserves, rapid growing telecoms market and government’s intension to increase capacity utilisation in the power sector to 40,000mega watts by 2020.

The UTKI director, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Andy Davison, said the construction industry in Nigeria was worth $42.87bn in 2011, adding that the growth of Nigeria’s construction industry was moving faster than that of India.

Earlier, the President of the chamber, Mr. Akinola Akintunde, said the essence of the breakfast forum was to provide networking opportunities for members and the public, to grow their businesses and get acquainted with recent happenings in the business environment of the two countries.

For Nigeria to achieve its potential, Stephenson said there was the need to maintain political stability, ensure continuous investment in social infrastructure and restore confidence in the financial system.

Source: Punch