By Chukwuma Umeorah
The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to tackling the structural barriers limiting access to credit in Nigeria by supporting the newly launched National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC), established to serve as a strategic partner in de-risking loans and expanding inclusive financing to underserved sectors.
Speaking at the Stakeholders’ Engagement Forum on the take-off of NCGC, in Lagos on Monday, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bonaventure Okhaimo, said the company was created under a presidential mandate to bridge financing gaps for individuals, MSMEs, and manufacturers struggling to access credit. He noted that although credit remained central to economic activity, Nigeria’s current lending environment posed severe limitations for economic participants due to high-interest rates, collateral requirements, and weak credit culture.
“MSMEs, which form the backbone of the Nigerian economy, contribute approximately 48 per cent to GDP and account for a vast majority of our labour force, yet they remain constrained in accessing credit. We do not lend directly. We provide partial credit guarantees. Our in-depth research will provide more details as to how we intend to do this,” Okhaimo said.
He explained that with a starting capital base of over N100 billion, NCGC was positioned to support financial institutions through risk-sharing mechanisms that reduce loan default risk and unlock new lending opportunities. The company’s partial guarantees will cover up to 60 per cent of the outstanding principal, thereby reducing lenders’ exposure and encouraging credit expansion.
“We aim to expand access to finance for MSMEs to whom manufacturers are ready to contribute, thereby minimizing the risk exposure of PFIs, lowering default rates, and ultimately driving economic growth and promoting financial inclusion.”
The initiative comes against the backdrop of concerning macroeconomic challenges. According to the NCGC, between Q3 2024 and Q1 2025, Nigeria’s manufacturing credit demand dropped by N746 billion from N1.04 trillion to about N294 billion, largely due to interest rates exceeding 27.5 per cent. The decline they noted, had contributed to the closure of over 767 manufacturing firms and the loss of over 18,000 jobs in 2023 alone.
Chief Consultant, BAA Consult amd Keynote speaker, Dr. Biodun Adedipe, welcomed the take-off of the NCGC, describing it as “a long-awaited institutional intervention in the Nigerian credit market.” Drawing from his experience on the Financial Sector Strategy 2020 initiative, Adedipe said, “If we properly integrate the credit market in Nigeria, it had the capacity to drive the growth of Nigeria to about $963 billion.”
He stressed the need to address long-standing challenges including infrastructure deficiency, weak legal frameworks, poor credit controls, and an overreliance on short-term credit. “What NCGC speaks to today is to deal with the gap we have had in credit guarantee that can make a difference.”
Adedipe also referenced global best practices, citing over 2,250 credit guarantee schemes operating in more than 100 countries, including South Korea, Japan, France, and Egypt. He said Nigeria’s adoption of such a model is timely, especially considering the country’s poor private sector credit-to-GDP ratio, among the lowest in Africa between 2015 and 2020.
On her part, Executive Director of Strategy and Operations at NCGC, Tinuola Aigwedo, highlighted the company’s structured rollout approach. She said, “Our rollout begins with a focused six-month pilot phase, designed to test and refine our guaranteed products in collaboration with PFIs that meet our eligibility criteria. From there, we will transition to scale, with structured onboarding of additional FIs and deeper strategic alliances.”
She explained that the company will offer two core guarantee products; the individual guarantee for capital-intensive loans and the portfolio guarantee designed for lending institutions handling smaller, high-volume loans. Both offerings will be supported with technical assistance and market intelligence to support better lending decisions.
Aigwedo added, “While we are sector agnostic, we are prioritizing areas critical to Nigeria’s development and revolution, manufacturing, renewable energy, digital tech, exports, and women and youth enterprises. These sectors can unlock jobs, productivity, and inclusive growth.”
As formal financial inclusion in Nigeria rose to 64 per cent in 2023, up from 44 per cent in 2020, NCGC said it aimed to help close the remaining gap and provide more Nigerians with access to sustainable credit. “Together, we can ensure that viable partners, whether farmers, traders, entrepreneurs, or manufacturers, are met with opportunity, not exclusion,” Aigwedo urged.
She added that with backing from key government institutions including the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Bank of Industry, and Nigeria Consumer Credit Corporation (CreditCorp), NCGC was expected to play a central role in shaping Nigeria’s credit landscape in the coming years.
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