Speaking at the April meeting of The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers’ (NCRIB) monthly lecture series in Lagos, Mr. Lucky Ologbo of the Royal Trust Microfinance Bank (RTMB) stated that, “since insurance brokers have numerical advantage and exist in all the nooks and crannies of the country, they are most strategically positioned to forge relationships with microfinance institutions, which also operate all over the country.”
As of December 2005, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which was established in 1959 with December 2007 total assets of NGN 7.3 trillion (USD 62.9 billion), reported that “less than two percent of rural households have access to financial services (page 8).”
The Chairman of NRCIB’s Lagos committee, Mr. Akin Akinade, added that “insurance bankers would explore the areas of mutual advantages with microfinance banks.” Mr. Ologbo is also reported as calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria to require both state and local governments to assign, “at least one percent of their yearly budgetary allocations to microfinancing,” as reported by the Nigerian newspapers Leadership and Punch.
Mr. Ologbo is the Managing Director of the Lagos-based microfinance institution (MFI), RTMB. The CBN lists RTMB as an officially registered and domestically owned microfinance bank since September 20, 2007. Financial information for RTMB was not available.
Established in 1962, the NCRIB provides “a central organization for the regulation of all practicing insurance brokers in Nigeria.”
The “Microfinance Policy, Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Nigeria” report, prepared by the CBN and released in December 2005, lists the government’s microfinance policy goals (page 11). Included among them are the increase of microcredit activities as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) to at least five percent in 2020 from 0.2 percent in 2005 and “the participation of at least two-thirds of state and local governments in microcredit financing by 2015.”
Recent developments in Nigerian microfinance reported on by MicroCapital include the Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria’s approval of a USD 27.2 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the creation of Nigeria’s largest MFI, and the government’s establishment of a USD 426 million microcredit development fund.
By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant
Additional Resources:
Central Bank of Nigera: Home, History, Statement of Assets and Liabilities, RTMB
International Fund for Agricultural Development: Home
Leadership: Home, “Microfinance Banks Advocate Pact with Insurance Brokers”, April 14, 2008
MicroCapital article, March 14, 2008: “The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria Approves $27.2m Loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for Rural Microfinance”
MicroCapital article, February 22, 2008: “Nigerian Government Creates $426m Microcredit Development Fund”
MicroCapital article, March 13, 2008: “South African Microfinance Institution (MFI) Blue Financial Services and Nigeria’s Intercontinental Bank to Launch $25.9m Microfinance Bank”
Microfinance Gateway: Home, “Microfinance Policy, Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Nigeria”, CBN, December 2005
Nigeria Direct: Home
The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers: Home
OANDA: FXConverter
Punch: Home, “Microfinance, Insurance Firms Urged to Form Partnerships”, April 14, 2008
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