Kayode Ekundayo
29 October 2008
Lagos — The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo, said in Lagos on Tuesday that only 12 out of 36 states in the country have contributed to microfinance activities in their states to the tune of N12.075 billion.
The governor of the apex bank who was speaking at the launch of "Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFINA)," a nongovernmental organization, named the states as Zamfara, Delta, Lagos, Ekiti, Kebbi, Kwara, Ondo, Kogi, Cross River, Benue , Anambra, Osun and Oyo.
He said in terms of actual disbursement of funds, Lagos state has disbursed N620 million within one year through selected microfinance banks, Delta N600 million through Oceanic Bank and some microfinance banks while Osun disbursed N99.780 million through the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB).
Soludo said that based on the 2006 census, it was estimated that over 91.0 million, 65 per cent of 140 million of Nigerian are underserved or totally lack access to finance.
In order to brigde the gap, 815 microfinance banks comprising six states and 809 unit banks have been granted licences.
He said though lots of challenges have emerged since the launch of the policy and licencing of microfinance banks, the CBN, he said, is taking steps to address them.
"Since 2006, the bank has been holding capacity building programmes to enable managers of the banks and their staffs acquire skills for microfinance banking. It has just concluded an interim capacity building programme for 3000 staff of microfinance banks across the country and is planning to execute same programme for part time directors to enable them assume their responsibilities effectively", he said
Soludo explained that a comprehensive certification programme will commence for the microfinance banks in 2009. The programme, he said, when started, would orientate the management team of MFBs and enhance the acquisition of appropriate operational skills on microfinance business models and practices.
The chief operating officer of the organization, Mrs Modupe Ladipo, said the emphasis is basically on empowerment of the poor through access to financial services, adding that a survey and research conducted by the organization through a South African firm, FinMark and Research and Marketing Services (RMS), shows a sad development in the nation's banking and insurance sectors of the nation's economy.
According to the survey, 79 per cent of adult population are unbanked, 85 per cent of adult females are un-banked while 53 per cent of the Nigerian adult population are financially excluded with no access to either formal or informal financial services.
The report also revealed that only two per cent of the adult population have access to insurance products while 67 per cent of the adult population are currently saving but 33 per cent of those saving do so at home
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