President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed satisfaction over the performance of the National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC), a creation of his administration.
Tinubu, in a post on his official X handle, declared that the agency was created to redeem his pledge to move Nigeria towards a credit-based economy and to establish a loan guarantee scheme that would help small businesses overcome the barriers that keep them from finance.
Tinubu recalled that before his assumption of office and establishment of NCGC, most entrepreneurs faced the hardest hurdles of securing credit for businesses.
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“We established NCGC to help change that. It carries part of the lending risk with participating financial institutions, giving them greater confidence to lend to businesses and borrowers they might otherwise turn away.”
Giving a success story of the credit parastatal, Tinubu disclosed that the NCGC has issued ₦21.59 billion in guarantees to 67,512 borrowers across 25 states and the FCT.
The post noted that 19 financial institutions: 13 commercial banks, three microfinance banks and three development finance institutions, work with the NCGC, and maintained that his administration would continue to widen opportunities to entrepreneurs who initially were not captured in the nation’s formal credit system.
President Tinubu post read: When I sought your mandate, I promised to move Nigeria towards a credit-based economy and to establish a loan guarantee scheme that would help small businesses overcome the barriers that keep them from finance.
“That promise was about something practical. A worker with access to credit can buy what the family needs and pay over time, and a small business can invest today against the income it expects tomorrow.
“We have been building the institutions to make that possible. Through CREDICORP, working Nigerians can access consumer credit. Our students can finance their education through NELFUND, while the Bank of Industry and Development Bank of Nigeria continue to lend to businesses.
“The National Credit Guarantee Company @ncgc takes on one of the hardest barriers to business credit.
“Many viable businesses still meet the same obstacle at the bank. Lenders see too much risk in a sound business when the owner has little collateral or no credit history.
“We established NCGC to help change that. It carries part of the lending risk with participating financial institutions, giving them greater confidence to lend to businesses and borrowers they might otherwise turn away.
“Today, NCGC works through 19 financial institutions: 13 commercial banks, three microfinance banks, and three development finance institutions.
“One year into operations, we can see what that model is doing.
“NCGC has issued ₦21.59 billion in guarantees. On the strength of those guarantees, participating lenders have extended ₦46.95 billion in loans.
“That means every ₦1 in guarantees has helped unlock about ₦2.17 in credit.
“So far, 67,512 borrowers across 25 states and the FCT have received credit backed by NCGC. 11,374 are women.
“And 33.5 percent are first-time formal borrowers. For more than 22,000 Nigerians, this is their first entry into the formal credit system.
“They now have a credit record they can build. Each successful repayment strengthens that record and can make the next loan easier to secure.
“Credit matters because of what people can do with it. A trader can restock before the festive season. When a manufacturer takes a bigger order and buys another machine to fill it, another Nigerian gets a job.
“NCGC estimates that the businesses it has supported account for 661,291 direct and indirect jobs.
“This is how we move from reforms to opportunities. Our reforms laid the foundation. Credit gives Nigerians the means to build on it. Tens of thousands who stood outside formal credit a year ago are now inside, borrowing to grow.
“We will keep widening that road until the opportunities our reforms create reach homes and businesses in every part of Nigeria.
“Promise made, Promise Kept. We are moving from reforms to opportunities. Nigeria First.“
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