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The Association of Licenced Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has set up the Telecommunications Financial Inclusion Committee, comprising of representatives of Globacom, 9Mobile, Airtel, MTN Nigeria and Ntel.

The committee, inaugurated on Saturday, will run awareness programmes that will deepen financial literacy across the country within the next three months and provide access to financial services to up to 35 million Nigerians within 12 months.

Working within the framework of ALTON, the mandate of the committee includes providing access to financial services to 90 million Nigerians across the 774 local government areas by 2020 through the conversion of over one million airtime agents to mobile money agents. They will also collaborate with other stakeholders and engage with the government to help achieve the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 80 percent financial inclusion target by 2020.

“The inauguration of this committee is a positive and necessary first step to achieving our goals of improving inclusion and literacy,” said Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of ALTON. “The potential of our sector’s participation in these efforts is enormous. The telecommunications subscribers’ database is the most comprehensive; our coverage is vast and this speaks to the potential that we have as a group to truly contribute to solving some of the challenges that have been faced so far.”

According to a statement by ALTON, the committee is chaired by the Chairman of ALTON, while the members include Jane Amadi, Business Development Manager at MTN Nigeria; Oladokun Oye, Head of Direct Sales, Mobile Financial Services and Digital Services at Airtel; Samuel Akinsola, Sales Support and Performance Analysis Manager at ntel; Olaseun Omotosho, Head of Mobile Financial Service at 9Mobile; and Esaie Diei, Mobile Money Financial Business Manager at Globacom.

Other members are Ismaila Suhailu (ntel), Chidozie Arinze (9Mobile), Oluwatosin Cole (Globacom) and Gbolahan Awonuga, Head of Operations at ALTON.

The committee will meet fortnightly over the coming months to deliver on its mandate.

“We commend the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria for the recently released exposure guidelines for Payment Services Bank (PSB) License, a welcome development that will play a critical role in accelerating financial inclusion,” Adebayo said.

Formed in 2000 with the objective of promoting growth in the telecommunication sector, ALTON is an industry body for all telecommunication companies and those providing subsidiary services to telecommunication service providers in Nigeria. Its members include Spectranet, MainOne, Smile, Vodacom, ATC Nigeria, IHS Towers, Interconnect ClearingHouse Nigeria and Communication Network Support Services Limited.