The largest population of Nigerians is unaware of the direction that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is going in terms of the type of economic foundation being laid for an enduring prosperity of Nigerians and their families. With a population of close to 300 million, Nigeria truly must search deeply for a kind of economic stabilisation system that concentrates wealth in the hands of the people to finally stabilise the resilience of the economy.
In his take-off presidential economic policy statement, Bola Ahmed Tinubu captured “consumer credit culture” as the cornerstone of his economic growth strategy agenda.
The statemental word was very sketchy, yet it embodied the whole idea of a new dawn in the transformation of the economic life of Nigerians. As a statutory professional body established by law to control, supervise and regulate credit management profession in Nigeria, as well as advising, supporting and making actionable recommendations to the federal government on all matters relating to credit economy management in the country, the National Institute of Credit Administration (NICA) chartered is duty bound to educate and inform Nigerians that the current hardship being experienced by a larger population of citizens is the cumulative effects of the inability of the past governments’ economic policies to construct a people-centered system that supports productivity, entrepreneurship actualisation, job and wealth creation, and impactful industrialisation.
Given NICA’s status as an independent, statutory professional entity, we believe that the economic revamping measures thatTinubu’s administration has embarked upon, regardless of the slow pace at which they are running, can be better described as laying the foundation for a cornerstone economy that will withstand any shock. Any nation’s economy that has inbuilt robust access to credit, in this case, and the first instance, loanable funds by the micro, small,, and medium enterprises in the country, particularly in an environment of emerging markets, such an economy will grow exponentially; the people become essential stakeholders and the centrepiece of the nation’s industrialisation drive, leading to employment creation, better standards of living, and multiple revenue generation windows for various arms of government.
President Tinubu, contrary to the perceptions of some quarters, is quietly and carefully laying a “cornerstone.” In the context of economics, I am referring to a fundamental or crucial element that forms the base of an economic system, essentially acting as the foundation upon which everything in the economy is built; alluding to a key component that is vital for the proper functioning of the economy, similar to how an atypical cornerstone is the first and most important stone laid in building construction. The credit economy is exactly that “cornerstone,” as the economy grows without the use of credit, and there is no example of any developed, resilient, and sustainable economy where credit is not used. This is economic freedom, as it is also economic liberalism.
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NICA’s position as an impartial professional regulatory body for the people and organisations in the art and science of credit management economy enables NICA to see what many people cannot see, understand, and interpret what many people do not know about in the various frameworks for the development of a credit economy and its management. The ongoing consumer credit administration initiative of the federal government, which is designed to actualise the dream that Nigerians can now buy most of their life-enhanced consumer items without needing to drop cash at the point of sale, is a strong economic widening and improved living standard scheme; this is being midwifed by the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP), set up by the federal government in the 3rd quarter of 2024.
Similarly, to ensure that goods, products, and services are enormously available in the market for the consumption of Nigerians using the bay today, pay tomorrow mechanism, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu went a step further to announce the plan of his federal administration to establish and take off the operation of what he called the “National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC).” The NCGC will address the burning issue of how lack of collateral or security has over the years blocked access to bank financing by the micro, small, and medium enterprises. Banks generally are biased in favour of lending to small and medium enterprises in the country as they are considered extremely risky. The uncertainties facing this sector, the high mortality rate of such enterprises, and their vulnerability to market and economic changes make lenders reluctant to approve lines of credit for them, yet they possess an opportunistic advantage for economic growth and development.
As the nation is fully aware, the economic prosperity of any nation lies with this category of business organisations. The owners of the enterprises are the indigenous people; they are the ones that will grow and become conglomerates, blue chips, and multinationals. They need to be eminently placed on the economic growth and prosperity policy focus of the government, be it at the federal or state levels of governance.
As the government strives to develop and implement credit economy transitioning policies—from the long-standing cash and carry syndrome, which has done the nation and its people more damage than good—the nation’s National Institute of Credit Administration (NICA), chartered by the Act of Parliament number 26 of 2022, is appealing to Nigerians generally to exercise more patience with the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What this government is doing, which many people do not seem to understand, is aiming at changing the face of Nigeria’s economy to a much better, well-shaped, and sustained system capable of bringing out the best in the hard-working, honest, and creative Nigerian entrepreneurs. When this is fully achieved, Nigeria will become a healthy economy, home for all Nigerians in diaspora and Black people everywhere.
National Institute of Credit Administration (NICA) Chartered. Phone: 08034030160. Email: [email protected]
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