The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in partnership with the country’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) will be hosting a series of events across the country in the second week of March 2014 to celebrate Global Money Week 2014 and help mould the future executives of Corporate Nigeria. The financial literacy initiative involve key senior officers of The NSE, CBN and other financial powerhouses being deployed across the 36 States of Nigeria for the school engagement activities.
To commemorate this week which holds from March 10 -17, 2014, the NSE will host series of events including A Day At the Exchange Excursion Programme and Ringing of the closing bell by students; Financial Literacy Fair and School Out-Reach Programme. The events will hold in Lagos, Abuja and Owerri on 10th, 11th and 13th of March.
Global Money Week 2014 in Nigeria is part of a global celebration. Countries from every continent are participating in order to raise awareness of the importance of financial education and financial inclusion for children and youth. Global Money Week 2014 is coordinated and led by Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), a non-profit organization based in Amsterdam. This global movement strives to provide financial education and financial inclusion to all children and youth, and has already gathered the support of some of the most prominent leaders and organizations across the world, including the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban-Ki Moon.
These international celebrations are carried out to promote the importance of financial rights, and especially for children and youth. Today, less than 1% of all children in the world have access to financial education and financial inclusion. One billion children live in poverty. Financial illiteracy results in many young people struggling with large amounts of debt, resulting in negative repercussions on their development and well-being.
With financial access and financial education children and youth can learn to save and spend money responsibly.
It can be recalled that The NSE had previously embarked on sustainable financial literacy for youths and has over the years restated its commitment to the support of efforts aimed at addressing financial literacy and empowerment; this commitment has been expressed in the various financial inclusions and literacy initiatives undertaken by The NSE, one of which is the Annual Essay Competition which was instituted in 1999, had its first award ceremony in 2000 and was aimed at increasing awareness on the benefits of investing in securities. The most recent of this was the 12th Annual National Essay Competition of The NSE which came to a climax in November 2013 with the Grand Finale and Awards ceremony where all present were thrown into a flood of emotions as Master Mahmud Abdullahi, a physically challenged student from Government College Azare in Bauchi State emerged winner of this year’s competition. The event which had over a hundred students from various secondary schools in attendance was also graced by prominent Nigerians in the financial and educational sectors.