Hon. Samuel Odewho, the minister responsible for youth empowerment within the Nigerian government’s Niger Delta Ministry, recently announced the launch of a microfinance scheme that will provide soft loans to individuals, cooperatives and youth in the Niger Delta region who have completed the ministry’s skills training program. Hon. Samuel Odewho stated that the skills training provided by the ministry will enable the youth to set up sustainable businesses as well as enhance their employability [1].
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Reviews Efforts to Encourage Microfinance, Discusses Challenges
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria’s central banking authority, has provided an overview of the bank’s strategies that have been implemented thus far in efforts to aid in the growth of the microfinance sector of the country. These include the establishment of: the Microfinance Advisory Board (MAB) in 2005 to coordinate stakeholder interventions in microfinance; National Microfinance Policy Consultative Committee (NMFPCC) in 2006 to aid in implementing policy; Inter-Agency Technical Committee on the Implementation of the Microfinance Policy to address technical issues related to policy implementation; and the Entrepreneurship Development Centres in Lagos, Onitsha and Kano in 2008 to assist in the capacity building of microfinance institutions (MFIs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microborrowers Past Due on $64m in Repayments to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Lagos, Nigeria; National Association of Microfinance Banks Proposes Criminalization
Mr Olufemi Babajide, Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), a group of Nigerian microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently revealed that past due loans outstanding to MFIs in Lagos total NGN 10 billion (USD 64 million).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Honors Obioma Liyel-Imoke, Founder of POWER, For Empowering Women at Nigeria’s Fifth Annual Microfinance Conference and Entrepreneurial Award Ceremony
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently honored Obioma Liyel-Imoke, the first lady of Cross River State and founder of microlender Partnership Opportunities for Women Empowerment Realization (POWER), with the Best Support First Lady for Women Empowerment award for the second consecutive year at the country’s fifth Annual Microfinance Conference and Entrepreneurial Award Ceremony.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Highlights Failings of Local Microfinance Industry, Outlines Strategy Going Forward
Femi Fabamwo, Director of the Other Financial Institutions Department at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), reportedly has said that mission drift at some microfinance banks, weak capacity for lending, poor understanding of the microfinance concept and inefficient delivery methodologies are some of the reasons why 103 microfinance institutions (MFIs) are being liquidated by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). Mr Fabamwo cited MFIs “operating like ‘micro-commercial banks’ with flamboyance, fleets of branded cars and high expenditure profile; hard impact of the global financial turbulence of 2008/2009; weak capitalization; poor corporate governance…and weak internal controls” as additional reasons reform is needed in Nigeria’s microfinance sector.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria Federal Government Supports Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Establish Microfinance Development Fund
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan recently announced at the country’s fifth Annual Microfinance Conference and Entrepreneurial Award Ceremony that the federal government would support the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) plan to establish a Microfinance Development Fund dedicated towards developing the country’s microfinance sector.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Begins to Repay Customers of Failed Microfinance Banks
In 2010, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked the operating licenses of 224 microfinance banks (MFBs) in the country that were “terminally distressed and technically insolvent.” After receiving fresh tranches of capital, new operating licenses were given to 121 of those outfits, but the remaining 103 institutions are being liquidated by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and their depositors are now being repaid in stages.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Former Directors of Havilah Microfinance Bank Limited, Rufus Dada Oluyole and Rotimi Olubowale, Arraigned in Nigeria For Conspiracy, Other Charges
Former directors of Havilah Microfinance Bank Limited, Rufus Dada Oluyole and his son-in-law Rotimi Olubowale, have been arraigned before a magistrate’s court in Lagos, Nigeria on criminal charges of conspiracy, forging the letterhead of Havilah and falsely representing themselves as directors of the bank to customers after they no longer filled those roles.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Nigerian State of Ondo and Bank of Industry (BOI) Disburse $13m to Microfinance Scheme
The government of the Nigerian state of Ondo disbursed NGN 2 billion (approximately USD 13 million) to create the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, which will provide wholesale funding and refinancing liquidity for microfinance institutions (MFIs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Emida Integrates Cash and Transact(TM) and Debisys Platform, Launches Mobile Wallet Service in Nigeria, Plans to Roll Out to 37 Countries
Emida, a company based in California that specializes in global prepaid and value transfer solutions, recently announced the integration of its Cash and TransactTM (CATTM) Mobile Wallet platform with its Debisys Top-Up platform, which will enable customers to load cash to their phones and make payments to retailers that support Emida systems.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to Prosecute Managing Directors of Failed Microfinance Banks
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), an independent agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria which guarantees deposits to financial institutions, has reportedly begun compiling a list of some of the managers of the failed microfinance banks – whose licenses were recently withdrawn by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – with the aim of prosecuting them.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Investment Manager BlueOrchard Invests $5.5m in Fondo de Desarrollo Local (FDL) of Nicaragua, First Allied Savings and Loans Limited (FASL) of Ghana and AB Microfinance Bank of Nigeria
BlueOrchard Finance SA, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based commercial microfinance intermediary BlueOrchard, reported to MicroCapital the details of three debt investments made to microfinance institution (MFI) Nitlapan’s Credit Program Fondo de Desarrollo Local (FDL) of Nicaragua (MFI), First Allied Savings and Loans Limited (FASL), an MFI in Ghana, and the commercial AB Microfinance Bank of Nigeria.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Anglican Diocese of Enugu, Nigeria, to Launch Microfinance Bank
Emmanuel Chukwuma, the Anglican bishop of the diocese in Enugu, Nigeria, announced that the diocese will establish a microfinance bank that will employ 80 people and assist community residents who are already engaged in microenterprises.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SIMS Nigeria Limited, Two Individuals Charged With Defrauding Microfinance Bank Out of $20k
Two Nigerian businessmen, Onochie Nduka and Christopher Eyisi, and SIMS Nigeria Limited, a company that sells power generators, were charged with forgery, obtaining money under a false pretence and stealing NGN 3 million (USD 20,000) from an unnamed microfinance bank.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Social Investments Makes Debt Investments Totaling $1.5m in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) FINCA DRC of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Grooming Centre of Nigeria and WAGES of Togo
responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility), a social investment company based in Switzerland, reported to MicroCapital that it has provided approximately USD 1.5 million in debt financing to FINCA DRC of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Grooming Nigeria of Nigeria and Women and Associations for Gain both Economic and Social (WAGES) of Togo.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Gives Provisional Approval for 121 New Microfinance Bank (MFB) Licenses
After announcing that Nigerian microfinance banks (MFBs) would have to fulfill stricter capital requirements in order to obtain licenses, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun to grant provisional approval for new licenses to approximately 121 out of the 224 MFBs whose licenses were revoked earlier this year.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Banks (MFBs) Whose Licenses Were Recently Revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) May Reapply Under Stiffer Requirements
The 224 microfinance banks (MFBs) whose licenses were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria’s central banking authority, must satisfy a new requirement of a minimum capital base of NGN 100 million (approximately USD 650,000) and NGN 2 billion (USD 13.1 million) respectively for unit and state MFBs if they wish to obtain new licenses to resume lending.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: “This Day” Online Editorial Laments Closure of 224 Insolvent Nigerian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
The editors of This Day Online lament the revocation of 224 Nigerian microfinance institutions’ (MFIs’) operating licenses in a recent posting.