The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Mr Timothy Odaah, has described Micro Finance Banks (MFBs) as critical agents in the development and transformation of rural economies.
Odaah told newsmen in Abakaliki last Monday that MFBs offered vital and value creation services to low income earners and small-scale businesses.
He said that access to loans and other facilities needed for economic, social and industrial growth and development were easily available in the banks.
He said that MFBs as community-based financial institutions assisted in financing rural businesses and development programmes.
“Micro finance banks are established to sponsor small and medium business enterprises and especially cottage industries.
“The economies of most rural areas have been helped to develop and mature because of access to loans and other facilities by business operators from these banks.
“Farmers, artisans and small scale industrialists, among others, have easier access to loans in these banks than the conventional ones,” Odaah said.
He also urged wealthy Nigerians, corporate bodies and associations to open MFBs to speed up economic development and transformation in the various states.
“We have a number of these banks in our rural and urban communities assisting our emerging entrepreneurs and yet they are not enough.
“Therefore, more of this alternative banking system is needed to encourage these entrepreneurs to grow their businesses,” he said.
The commissioner said the absence of commercial banks in most rural communities to finance small businesses made it imperative for MFBs to take the lead in opening up more business opportunities.
“Our state is largely an agrarian society and there is complete absence of commercial banks in many communities and MFBs have been repositioned to play vital roles in enhancing economic development.
“I urge farmers, traders, small and medium scale industrialists to avail themselves of the opportunity provided by these banks to develop their enterprise,” he said.