…22,000 first-time borrowers enter formal credit system
…N21.59bn guarantees mobilise more than twice value in lending

The Federal Government’s National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC) has unlocked N46.95 billion in loans for 67,512 Nigerians and businesses within its first year of operation, President Bola Tinubu said on Monday.

Tinubu said the financing was mobilised through N21.59 billion in credit guarantees, translating to about N2.17 in lending for every N1 guaranteed.

In a message posted on his verified X handle, @officialABAT, the President said the performance underscored his administration’s push towards a credit-based economy where viable businesses and individuals could access financing despite limited collateral or credit history.

According to him, 11,374 beneficiaries are women, while 33.5 per cent, more than 22,000 borrowers, accessed formal credit for the first time. The scheme has reached beneficiaries across 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The businesses supported under the arrangement are also estimated to account for 661,291 direct and indirect jobs.

“When I sought your mandate, I promised to move Nigeria towards a credit-based economy and to establish a loan guarantee scheme that would help small businesses overcome the barriers that keep them from finance,” Tinubu said.

“A worker with access to credit can buy what the family needs and pay over time, and a small business can invest today against the income it expects tomorrow.”

The President said the NCGC was established to tackle one of the major barriers to business financing, lenders’ reluctance to extend credit to otherwise viable borrowers without sufficient collateral or established credit histories.

“Many viable businesses still meet the same obstacle at the bank. Lenders see too much risk in a sound business when the owner has little collateral or no credit history.

“We established NCGC to help change that. It carries part of the lending risk with participating financial institutions, giving them greater confidence to lend to businesses and borrowers they might otherwise turn away,” he said.

The company provides partial credit guarantees, typically covering up to 60 per cent of outstanding loan principal, with higher coverage available for some strategic categories.

It currently works with 19 participating financial institutions, 13 commercial banks, three microfinance banks and three development finance institutions.

Tinubu listed the NCGC alongside the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP), Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Bank of Industry (BOI) and Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) as part of the administration’s expanding credit architecture.

He said access to finance was critical to converting the government’s economic reforms into opportunities for households and businesses.

“Credit matters because of what people can do with it. A trader can restock before the festive season. When a manufacturer takes a bigger order and buys another machine to fill it, another Nigerian gets a job,” he said.

“This is how we move from reforms to opportunities. Our reforms laid the foundation. Credit gives Nigerians the means to build on it.”

The NCGC was established following a presidential mandate in August 2024 to ease financing constraints facing small businesses and underserved borrowers through partial credit guarantees and risk-sharing with financial institutions.

Tinubu pledged to further expand access to formal credit, saying the government would “keep widening that road until the opportunities our reforms create reach homes and businesses in every part of Nigeria.”