Nigeria, Sept. 16 -- At least eight million West Africans opened new bank accounts while their countries were in lockdown due to the outbreak of coronavirus, a report released on Tuesday by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation revealed.

This is an indication that these countries, including Nigeria, are making an effort to bridge the financial inclusion gap after signing the Maya Declaration in 2011.

Premium Times reported that Nigeria made a commitment under the Maya Declaration in 2011 to reduce Nigeria's financial exclusion rate from 46.3 to 20 per cent by 2020.

To achieve this, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adopted the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) in 2012.

According to the strategy's document, the NFIS was buil...