Business
Association Wants FG To Bail-Out MFBs
President of the National Association of Micro-Finance Banks (NAMB), Mr Jentro Akum, on Tuesday appealed to Federal Government to bailout the micro-finance sub-sector.
Akum said in Lagos that the micro-finance sub-sector was inactive, due to its inability to borrow from commercial banks.
He said that the sub-sector was unable to make meaningful progress because it had been neglected, especially in the area of adequate funding.
Akum stressed that the subsector was capable of dragging into the banking net the over 70 per cent of the unbanked population.
He urged the government to bailout the sub-sector as it had done in other sectors like aviation, conventional banks, among others.
Akum said that the failure of the Small and Medium Industry Equity Investment Scheme had been a source of concern to stakeholders in the microfinance sector.
“Under the scheme, banks were directed to set aside 10 per cent of their pre-tax profit annually for equity investment in specified small and medium scale industries.
“Our question is that the banks are not making this provision or what has befallen the provision.
“I dare inform President Goodluck Jonathan that the future of this country lies in the micro-finance sector and therefore it should not be neglected,” he said
Akum also appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that more micro-finance banks were given licence to operate in rural areas.
He argued that some of the banks closed down in September, 2010, due to insolvency were located in rural areas.