Leadership (Abuja)
Justus Nduwugwe
18 January 2008
The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria , Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has disclosed that 600 community banks has successfully transmuted into Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and granted approvals in principle. This is addition to 107 new microfinance banks that have received the apex bank's approvals in principle.
These were made known yesterday by the governor, while speaking at the opening ceremony of the international summit on microfinance, being organised by the CBN at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja.
The governor, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the distribution of microfinance institutions across the country. He regretted that some states have as little as four micro finance institutions in their domain, which he said, was unacceptable if poverty would ever be eliminated.
He disclosed that the apex bank would publish the distribution of microfinance banks in the country to show areas with the least concentration. He called on the elites in those areas to pool their resources together to meet the N2 million requirement needed to set up microfinance institutions.
Meanwhile, the governor announced that the bankers committee, at its meeting in Lagos last Friday, resolved to partner with states and local governments in order to ensure that micro-enterprises have access to needed funds.
"Already, some monies have been put into the fund and would be made known during the formal launching of the scheme. This shows that the commercial banks are prepared to support micro-credit programmes", Professor Soludo added.
The CBN boss further said that revised framework of microfinance operation in Nigeria would be unveiled in due course by the bankers committee in collaboration with states and other organisations willing to partner towards the growth of microfinance business in the country.
He, therefore, called on the state governments, as well as local governments to take microfinance very seriously.
According to him, "the framework provides that each state/local government should devote at least one per cent of its total budget to microfinance". He added that this is the clearest demonstration of how states and local governments wish to tackle the scourge of poverty within their domain.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
