Draft:Paul Oluikpe

Paul Oluikpe is a Nigerian financial inclusion advocate, author, musician and pianist... He is noted for his work on Inclusive Green Finance and climate change for which he was honoured at the Global Policy Forum in Manila,  Philippines in September, 2023 with a Technical Leadership Award. He is a former Chair of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Inclusive Green Finance (IGF) Working Group of 68 countries working to develop knowledge products, principles, and processes for incorporating green finance and climate change considerations into policies of member countries. In this capacity as Chair, he addressed a policy roundtable of public and private sector participants at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings 2023 to explore collaboration and partnerships to advance inclusive green finance to mitigate the impact of climate change.  Oluikpe is one of the experts on the African Council on Security (CASADE).  Oluikpe won the Emerald Citation for Excellence Award in 2015 for his paper “Developing a Corporate Knowledge Management Strategy” and was also a finalist at the British Council’s UK Education Awards, 2017 for Professional Achievement.

Early Life and Education

Paul Oluikpe was born in Kputuke, Nvosi, Isiala Ngwa South, of Abia State, Nigeria. He is a graduate of the Said Business School, University of Oxford and holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Strategy and Innovation from Oxford, a PhD in Engineering from Loughborough University, UK with a focus on knowledge management in development projects in Africa, and an MSc in Information and Knowledge Management from the Loughborough University Business School. Oluikpe also holds a first degree in Librarianship from Abia State University, Nigeria and is a Chartered Banker and Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. He has attended various Executive Education programmes at Cambridge University, Harvard Business School, NorthWestern University, Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley.

Awards and Achievements

Oluikpe was awarded the Emerald Citation for Excellence Awards in 2015 for his paper “Developing a Knowledge Management Strategy” published by the Journal of Knowledge Management in 2012. He also was a finalist at the British Council Education UK Awards for Professional Achievement. Most recently, in 2023 at the Global Policy Forum, he was awarded the Alliance for Financial Inclusion Technical Leadership Awards for his work on Inclusive Green Finance and Climate Change.

Career

Oluikpe is the Head of Financial Inclusion at the Central Bank of Nigeria where he works to accelerate access to finance for Nigeria’s vulnerable populations. He is also the Secretary of the National Financial Inclusion Steering and Technical Committees and in this role facilitates and coordinates the development of financial inclusion policies, frameworks and their implementation across Nigeria. His work involves enabling the expansion of access points such as ATMs, POS machines, and acquisition of identity by excluded people, especially in the rural areas. He collaborates with SANEF, a shared agent network expansion facility established to onboard financial services agents to ensure equitable spread across Nigeria to facilitate easy access to financial services. His role helps to expand digital ID through engagements with key stakeholders in the Nigerian landscape; He has also collaborated with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in driving access to finance

Prior to becoming the Head of Financial Inclusion, Oluikpe worked in the Trade and Exchange Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria as Head, Policy Formulation and Implementation where he was involved in  foreign exchange policies and their implementation; He also worked as a Senior Strategist in the Strategy Management Department of the Bank.

Before joining the Central Bank of Nigeria, Oluikpe had consulted for the World Bank and the British Council. He worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Lougborough University’s Department of Civil and Building Engineering where he researched on data mining in post project reviews to improve the construction supply chain process. He had also consulted for WaterAid Africa in setting up a Knowledge Management Strategy. His work for the National Autistic Society, UK focused on providing technology tools for people with autism to interact with information and live better lives. He has also assisted the Pension Transitional Arrangements Department (PTAD) and Nigeria’s Office of the Head of Service to formulate strategy and implementation plans.

Inclusive Green Finance and Climate Change

Oluikpe chaired the Inclusive Green Finance Working Group (IGF) of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, a sixty-eight country working group focused on developing knowledge products, honing practice, and providing in-country capacity for member countries to incorporate IGF considerations in their policies.  Oluikpe was invited to address leaders on inclusive green finance at the COP 28 in Dubai on the 1^st of December, 2023 in a policy roundtable. Similarly, in April, 2023, Oluikpe addressed world leaders on a side-line meeting of the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings in Washington DC, on Green Finance where he sought commitment of leaders in incorporating considerations for green finance in their policies. He also addressed a ministerial roundtable in Lome, Togo in 2023 with inclusive green finance as the front-burner issue.

Policy Dialogue

Oluikpe has been involved in important policy dialogues on trade, financial inclusion, youth, green finance and climate change and digital financial inclusion. He was Nigeria’s representative at a high-level policy dialogue on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in Kenya, between 21st and 22nd of March, 2019 where over 100 policymakers and trade professionals convened to discuss the implications of the free trade agreement. Dr. Oluikpe was also the organizing Chair and speaker at the International Financial Inclusion Conference (IFIC2022)  headlined by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria as the special guest of honour. The conference explored potentialities of scaling innovative digital models for achieving financial inclusion.   During the International Youth Day, 2021, Oluikpe participated in an Alliance for Financial Inclusion Policy dialogue on Youth Inclusion. He called for  “more policy options, more policy initiatives and a combination of policies to try and unfreeze this space for our youth, so they can be resilient, sustain themselves and survive the impacts of COVID”.  In September, 2023, Oluikpe discussed “Digital financial services the ‘most efficient way forward’” at a policy dialogue convened by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF). At this event, Dr. Oluikpe echoed his view that “traditional financial products are becoming ‘rigid and frigid’ in a world where ‘agility, flexibility, convenience and proximity’ is the norm” hence the need to innovate and explore digital alternatives for extending access to finance to most of the society.

Writing Career

Oluikpe has written three published literary works; Dead on Arrival, Hooker, and the Campus Mafia. Dead on Arrival portrays the lives of village characters in a small setting during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war. It mirrors the contradictions in society, and from close quarters, amplifies the coping mechanisms of close-knit social units during a conflict situation using satires and imagery. Oluikpe, occasionally has written and commented on football. Dr. Oluikpe also has published several journal papers in knowledge management, economics, data mining and development. His most popular articles are “Developing a Corporate Knowledge Management Strategy”, “The needs and benefits of text-mining applications in post-project reviews” and “Knowledge creation and utilisation in project teams”. He has also written on import substitution from a Nigerian context.

Public Speaking

Oluikpe is frequently invited to speak on Nigeria’s financial inclusion strategy and progress on achieving targets; financial and digital literacy; savings and the economy; financial inclusion gender gap; covid-19 and its impact on financial inclusion; fintech and inclusion; using data to inform policy; and the spread of agent banking

Gender and Inclusion

As Head, Financial Inclusion at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Oluikpe led the development of a Framework for Access to Finance for Women in Nigeria after a gender landscaping study which identified lack of trust, education and income as key constraints for women accessing financial services. He continues to work to close the gender gap in inclusion and to enable conversations around women’s participation in the financial system and how barriers can be removed.

Music

Oluikpe is a musician, pianist, composer and music producer. His music engineering was influenced by Craig Silvey, a Grammy Award winning mix engineer whom he studied under in La Fabrique Studios in Avignon, France at a Mix with the Masters session. He also studied mixing and mastering at Berklee College of Music .