AfDB To Collaborate With Microfinance Banks

During the seventh annual symposium of the Nigerian Microfinance Platform, held in Abuja, the African Development Bank said it would collaborate with microfinance banks in order to boost micro, small and medium-scale enterprises and deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria through increased uptake of financial technology tools.

Akinwunmi Adesina, AfDB President who was represented by Lamin Barrow, the Director-General, Nigeria Country Office, AfDB, said that microfinance banks and MSMEs are key to the economy and job creation, noting that the lender places emphasis on poverty reduction, among others.

A statement quoted him as saying, “But they need our support and so through our mediated support through the Development Bank of Nigeria and others, we have supported about 20,000 MSMEs, but given the large number of MSMEs in Nigeria, this support is like scratching the surface.

"So we need partners like yourselves and others to penetrate and even in larger numbers.”

While commending the theme of the NMP Symposium, ‘Expanding the Frontiers of Financial Inclusion Through Innovation: The Microfintech Tools’, Adesina said the AfDB would work hand in hand with all stakeholders in order to expand financial inclusion in Nigeria including through increased innovation and uptake of fintech tools.

“It is the bank’s belief that this symposium we help us develop a more holistic understanding of the financial needs of underserved households and small businesses and develop ways to enhance access to affordable products.

“We are seeing the development of powerful new technologies and there is, therefore, the need to seek ways to combine technologies in a way that moves the needle on financial inclusion.

“The bank, your bank, is keen to contribute to building a definitive ecosystem in Nigeria and we commend NMP for conveying this symposium."

Also, Mallam Hassan Bello, the Managing Director/CEO, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, emphasised the need for microfinance banks to innovate products that would attract more people into the sector, and at the same time restore truth and dignity to the people who are deficit in both through the disruption of mobile technology operators, and to keep expanding and cut cost.