The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said one of his biggest regrets as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was delaying telecommunications companies‘ entry into financial services.
Sanusi spoke on Wednesday at the launch of the 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) survey, organised by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA).
He said telcos already possessed the infrastructure and reach that could have fast-tracked financial inclusion, especially in underserved communities.
The former CBN governor argued that financial inclusion goes beyond the number of people with bank accounts or the ability to transfer money.
“Opening an account and moving money is not the same thing as earning money or moving people out of poverty,” he said.
Financial services, he added, must be tied to the real economy — particularly agriculture and manufacturing. Citing groundnut farmers in Kano, he noted that a company producing ready-to-use therapeutic food for malnourished children was forced to import peanuts from Argentina because local farmers couldn’t meet quality standards.
According to Sanusi, the fix isn’t simply onboarding farmers to digital platforms, but training them, improving production, and linking them to buyers and markets.
He also pressed the CBN to prioritise price stability, warning that inflation poses the biggest threat to savings and wealth creation.
“There is no enemy to savings, no enemy to wealth that is bigger than inflation,” he said.
Sanusi further called for the use of transaction data from fintech and payment service providers to design savings, pension, and insurance products for Nigerians outside the traditional banking system — suggesting even small sums, “even ₦100,” from transactions could be channelled into savings or insurance.
He added that insurance products could also shield market traders from risks like fire, and farmers from crop failure.
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