• ‘22,616 Nigerians access bank loans, women account for 42.7% of beneficiaries’
• Worst is behind us, gains of Tinubu’s reforms ahead, says minister

The National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC), yesterday, said it had facilitated N64.13 billion in loans to Nigerian businesses and individuals, supporting an estimated 914,791 direct and indirect jobs within its first 14 months of operation.

The company also disclosed that 22,616 Nigerians had accessed formal bank loans for the first time, while women accounted for 42.7 per cent of beneficiaries.

Its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Bonaventure Okhaimo, disclosed this during a media briefing in Abuja.

Relatedly, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has said that the worst phase of Tinubu’s economic reforms is behind Nigeria, expressing optimism that the country will begin to reap greater benefits from the policies.

Okhaimo said the NCGC had deployed N30.19 billion in credit guarantees to unlock the N64.13 billion in loans as of October 21, 2026, through 19 participating financial institutions, reaching more than 170,000 beneficiaries.

He said the intervention was designed to address lending practices that often require collateral worth more than 150 per cent of the amount borrowed, excluding otherwise viable businesses from formal financing.

Besides, he said that the NCGC would continue expanding credit guarantees and financial literacy initiatives to support businesses, create jobs and contribute to Tinubu’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

The company, however, said that the 914,791 jobs comprised direct employment reported by participating banks and indirect jobs estimated using development finance multipliers, including those applied by the African Development Bank (ADB).

The minister, who spoke in Abuja during a media briefing on the reform agenda of the Tinubu-led administration, said stronger external reserves, easing inflation and returning confidence in the economy were signs that the reforms were beginning to yield results.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim, while endorsing the books titled “The Courage to Reform: Architecture of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” and “Beyond 2027: Statecraft, Vision for National Renewal,” scheduled for unveiling in Abuja on November 5, 2026, acknowledged that the reforms had come at a cost to Nigerian families but insisted that their sacrifices would not be in vain.

She said Tinubu inherited difficult economic decisions that could no longer be delayed when he assumed office on May 29, 2023.