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Better access to credit will lead to increased entrepreneurship and boost economic development, the National Institute of Credit Administration of Nigeria (NICA) has said.
Speaking with newsmen at the weekend, the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, NICA, Prof. Chris Onalo, said Nigeria has potential, which could be unlocked when the economy based on cash transactions is replaced with credit deals.
Onalo said: “A credit-based economy will give people an equal opportunity to advance their entrepreneurship and personal skills development.
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“Business opportunities are everywhere and the only way you can harness the resources that we have in this country is when you throw the economy open, and encourage people who don’t have access to finance to get the funds. Encourage people to buy and invest, not necessarily waiting for when they collect their salary, especially for those who are on fixed income.
“Small and medium scale enterprises that are the resilient factors that hold the economic plank of sustainability should have access to credit and get very strong support from government, which can stand in place as collateral security.”
He said NICA was open to addressing human needs and was helping to implement the government’s economic policy agenda for the country.
According to him, the cash economy has affected political values and encouraged unimaginable corruption.
“We need to completely run the affairs of the country based on integrity. The beauty of credit economics is that it institutes values, institutes integrity, truth and reliability.”
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