Business
SURE-P Boss Advises Nigerians On Transparency, Accountability
The Chairman, Subsidy
Re-Investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), Gen. Martin-Luther Agwai, has appealed in Abuja to Nigerians to make transparency and accountability their watch word in the conduct of their businesses.
Agwai made the call in Abuja during a one-day anti-corruption sensitisation and interactive programme organised for the secretariat staff of SURE-P.
The theme of the programme: “Accountability and Ethics in the Work Place’’, was organized by SURE-P in conjunction with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.(EFCC).
Agwai said the issues of transparency and accountability were the underlying factors in the operations of SURE-P.
He said that SURE-P had ensured that laws that bordered on transparency were being applied in the conduct of its businesses.
“What is important about SURE-P is the issue of transparency and integrity since we are working as a public organisation under the public regulation and rules in Nigeria.
“Some of the rules of EFCC, ICPC and the Procurement Act and others are some of the regulations that govern what we do,’’ he said.
He said that the interaction would afford the SURE-P staff the opportunity of consolidating their knowledge in the conduct of their daily job responsibilities.
He said that SURE-P had ensured transparency in the conduct of its operations through adhering strictly to due process mechanism in the execution of it’s mandate.
“Since our job has a lot to do with issue of money, issue of public fund to be utilised, we don’t decide how much goes into a project; we don’t decide where the programme is to be allocated or situated.
“But we superintend on the actual payment after verification and inspection to be sure that all that have been said is done.
“We work through the MDAs with the programme implementation unit (PIU) in the MDAs and they supervise contracts that have been signed by any organisation with the MDA or the contractor and not us.
“The PIU work as a link between us and the MDA, once the PIU is satisfied with the project the MDA has executed.
They will tell us and then we go to inspect and verify that what is stated by the PIU has actually been done.
“ If we are satisfied, we then, through our accounting officer who is the DG of the budget of the federation, forward the approval to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the CBN pays directly to the beneficiary. So that is the way we work,’’ he said.
The chairman said the sensitisation would further avail the SURE-P staff to deepen and understand issues of transparency and honesty in all ramification.
The Executive Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, represented by the Director, Public Affairs, Mr Osita Nwaja, said that the programme was designed for public and private sector workers in line with the mandate of the EFCC.
He said the essence was to take anti-graft campaign to the work place, and encourage workers to involve in fighting crime as EFCC alone could not fight and win the war against corruption in Nigeria.
Lamorde said that SURE-P had impacted positively on the improvement of individual lives in the country.
He said SURE-P was contributing to the stimulation of the economy and poverty reduction.
“Poverty is being alienated; critical infrastructure are being resuscitated and overhauled ,’’ Lamorde said.
He said that the enlightenment and sensitisation programme was targeted at advancing the strategic partnership of both organisations from the point of preventive mandate of the EFCC.
He called for the establishment of the SURE-P Integrity section.
Highlights of the interactive session were the presentation of papers by resource persons from EFCC and the decoration of SURE-P chairman as “Ambassador of Anti-Corruption”.
Credit to Nigeria’s private sector rose to N83.26 trillion in June 2026 from N81.04 trillion in May, signifying a positive balance of N2.22 trillion month-on-month.
Year-on-year, the figure represents a nine per cent increase compared with the N76.13 trillion recorded in June 2025. The latest figures come as the CBN continues to balance efforts to control inflation with the need to support economic growth and expand credit to businesses.
The CBN data shows that credit to Nigeria’s private sector increased by approximately 2.74 per cent month-on-month between May and June 2026. Also, the CBN data noted that credit to the government fell slightly to N40.03 trillion from N40.38 trillion. Other assets, net, dropped to N10.76 trillion from N12.63 trillion.
The credit surge signifies sustained growth in lending to businesses and other private-sector borrowers during the month. The rise in private sector credit was recorded alongside an increase in net domestic credit, despite declines in credit to government and other assets.
Further analysis of the report says that compared with June 2025, private sector credit rose by about N7.13 trillion yea-on-year but net domestic credit increased by approximately N1.87 trillion during the month.
The CBN’s relatively tight monetary policy stance notwithstanding, more banks still loaded funds to the private sector within the period. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held its 306th meeting on July 20 and 21.
The Committee reviewed recent developments in the global and domestic economies, assessed emerging risks to the outlook and considered their implications for monetary policy and retained all rates.
The Committee decided to retain the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5 per cent; the Standing Facilities Corridor around the MPR at +50/-450 basis points and retain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) for Deposit Money Banks at 45.00 per cent, Merchant Banks at 16.00 per cent, and non-TSA public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent.
The MPC decision means that credit extension in the private sector will likely continue to rise because of rising confidence in the sector and calls by stakeholders for banks to invest in the private scetor instead of government securities.
