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Hundreds of pupils of Oliveth Baptist High School, Oyo, on Monday got an hour lecture on how to save money.
And the lecture was from no other institution than a foremost financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA).
The bank’s Executive Director (Lagos and West), Mr Ayoku Liadi, who led the class, talked to the pupils on the need to embrace the culture of saving for the future.
He stressed the importance of imbibing saving culture from youth, how to save without hurting one’s ability to perform basic financial responsibilities and the various ways of saving for the future.
On what is required to develop a saving culture, Liadi said one needs to do the following:
- Keep calm and save money
- Manage one’s finances to ensure that consumption is less than income
- Set realistic timelines
- Resist the temptation to spend one’s savings
- Save in a financial institution for security purposes
According to the bank boss, the financial literacy campaign among youths session was aimed at encouraging savings among upcoming generation in the country, particularly those living in rural areas.
He said: “Banking is what people think is a high end activity but it is not. Everybody should have an account in a bank. The students here do not even think that they should have an account in a bank, but with this, I think they will tell their friends and others about having an account in a bank. It’s what will make things better if we do it a lot in rural areas.
“It is important we inculcate the savings culture when people are young. When you start at a relatively young age, you will grow with it. We are also talking to them but they were neglected in the past. We don’t want a situation when you only get to start banking services or start saving when you get to the university or start working. When we catch them young like this, it is good for them and it is also good for the country for many people to be bankable.
“This is going to help the system. There are a lot of money outside the banking system. The number of students we talked to here are about 400. This programme is expected to create awareness among the people outside the state capitals for savings and financial literacy, most importantly. It is just to encourage people that they need to keep their money in banks for safety purposes to avoid theft.
“That is why the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is trying to implore many commercial banks to go there to tell people that there is need for them to save in a formal institution.”
The school’s Vice principal (Administration), Mr Tunde Sulola, described the programme as ” laudable and wonderful.” He said it was an eye opener, even for members of staff that participated.
“Apart from the fact that all our students were excited, they will go back home to tell their parents the need for them to begin to save”, he said. “We teachers too have been lifted and we will pass the message to our children by the time we get home.”