NIGERIA Invest in 2012-13 - Newsdesk Media

anking subsidiary, FBN Capital
Limited, signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Oyo State
Government to fund key
multibillion-naira developments there.
These include the construction of
independent power projects, rice and
grain cultivation, revitalisation of
existing farm settlements and the
establishment of new ones, the creation
of vehicle-assembly plant and the
purchase of mass-transit vehicles.
Access to banking
Starting in 2006, the Central Bank of
Nigeria started to transition several
hundred community banks into official,
licensed microfinance institutions.
There are now more than 900 such
banks, which help to give ordinary
Nigerians access to a wide range of
banking services while helping to boost
SMEs. Plans are afoot to increase the
number of microbanks, although there
are significant challenges around
spreading awareness in an uneducated
population and obtaining proper support
from regulators.
Progress is being made in the
right direction, however, and the
National Association of Microfinance
Banks Lagos State chapter (NAMB-LAG)
recently announced plans to work with
organisations such as the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN),
the Chartered Institute of Bankers of
Nigeria (CIBN), Centre for Management
Development (CMD), Nigeria Institute of
Management (NIM), and the Industrial
Training Fund (ITF) to improve the
quality, scope and depth of its capacity
building programme.
The CBN stated in the revised
policy guidelines for microfinance banks
that efforts would be made to promote
capacity building within the sector.
It also introduced the Microfinance
The Central Bank of Nigeria is
encouraging more electronic transactions
Certification Programme (MCP); an
accreditation initiative to help ensure
staff in such banks have the appropriate
operational and technical skills.
The most immediate impact for
ordinary Nigerians, however, has been
the introduction of the CBN’s ‘cashless’
policy. In a move to reduce the high
level of cash transactions within the
economy, a pilot scheme was launched
in Lagos state on 1 January 2012,
which sets daily limits on deposits and
withdrawals of N150,000 ($920) for
individuals and N1 million ($6,100)
for corporations.
By encouraging more electronic-
based transactions, the hope is to
the economy and finance 53
minimise issues related to security,
cash-management costs and money
laundering, while also improving the
electronic payment system and
centralised back-office systems.
Nigeria is on the crest of a wave.
If it can continue to follow growth-
friendly policies and realise its long-term
economic potential, the country is
well on its way to becoming one of the
world’s top 20 economies by 2020,
as predicted by the PwC consultancy at
the start of 2011. ■
Beth Holmes is a freelance journalist,
specialising in business and finance, and
former features editor of Accountancy
invest in niGeRia 2012-13