FG launches Mobile Money Agent Programme to train 1,850 beneficiaries

The Nigerian Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development has announced the initiation of the Mobile Money Agent Program and the start of training for 1,850 participants.

The Humanitarian Minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, launched the scheme in Abuja on Thursday, during the inauguration and training of beneficiaries in the North Central Zone.

The scheme, according to the Minister, was introduced to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s social inclusion agenda in relation to the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which was expanded to include mobile money agents, with 350 beneficiaries from the North-Central zone participating.

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“The program is aimed to give unemployed youths toolkits and build their competences so that they can work as registered mobile money agents,” she said.

“With the training we’re commencing today, target beneficiaries will be able to meet the basic technical and business requirements for becoming mobile money agents, as well as improve their entrepreneurial skills and develop and manage mobile money businesses successfully.”

“After completing the training, the target beneficiaries will be registered as mobile money agents with the Shared Agency Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) and given start-up kits that contain a point-of-sale (POS) machine, fingerprint scanner, and furniture.

She noted that the Federal Government believed that the program will create job possibilities for the 1,850 youths selected from 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as promote financial inclusion by delivering financial services to Nigerians who were earlier unserved or underserved.

“It will also improve NSIP integration by allowing target beneficiaries to join a network of agents providing financial-related services under other NSIP components, such as conditional cash transfers and grants for vulnerable groups, as well as in the enumeration/enrolment of target beneficiaries,” Farouq said.

She went on to say that the training program would start soon in Akure and Calabar, in addition to beginning next year.