Business

Intervention Funds: Bank Customers, NANTS, Others Seek MFBs’ Involvement

Published

2 years ago

January 29, 2024

Miffed by the recent alleged abuses in the disbursement of poverty alleviation funds by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, some leading banking and development experts have called on the Federal Government to begin to use of Microfinance Banks (MFBs) in the disbursement of such funds in order to achieve the objectives of the poverty alleviation programmes.

Reacting to the reported public finance abuses in the Ministry and its implications for the poverty alleviation drive of the government, a seasoned banker and National Chairman of Bank Customers Association of Nigeria (BCAN), Dr. Uju Ogubunka, told journalists while sharing his views on the need to involve MFBs in the social intervention funds’ disbursement that “there shouldn’t be any doubt that MFBs will best serve the purpose of disbursing the funds to the poor in the country.

Ogubunka, a former Registrar of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), justified his stance based on the ‘Micro Finance Policy, Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Nigeria’ issued by the CBN in 2005, stressing “that MFBs stand shoulder higher among all the other types of banks/other financial institutions to be given the opportunity to handle financial services/affairs of poor people especially, at the rural areas of the country.”

Similarly, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS, Dr. Ken Ukaoha, said the saga demonstrated the existence of deep-rooted corruption in the public service that should be frontally tackled by the present administration in order to alleviate the prevalent multidimensional poverty in the country.

Specifically, Ukaoha, who is also a legal expert and smallholder farmers’ capacity building proponent, pointed out that channeling social intervention funds through the MFBs will ensure transparency and accountability in the disbursements “as these MFBs are guided by monetary principles in all areas of their operations. More so, accessibility of the funds at the local level where small-scale farmers predominantly operate will be more guaranteed.

“So, I think that government should get the MFBs involved in getting these funds to the beneficiaries to achieve the goals of the programmes. This will also support these grassroots-oriented micro lenders to grow in this very challenging time in the economy”, Ukaoha stressed.

In his remarks, Director-General/CEO, Association of Nigerian Exporters (ANE), Prince Joseph Idiong,harped on the need for the use of MFBs as preferred final channel for disbursement of poverty alleviation funds, saying that this is desirable “when considering their reach to most local areas, though there are still some Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country that do not have MFBs or Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).”

Specifically, he advocated: “To use MFBs as channel for disbursement of poverty alleviation funds, I prefer the use of MFBs that have strong capitalization, national or regional spread. State Government- owned MFBs could also be used as State Governments can be held responsible.”

Commenting, a former National Chairman of Association of Small-Scale Agro-Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN), Hajia Amina Jubrin, said: “The MFBs are best positioned to efficiently disburse these funds in order to achieve the objectives.”

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Business

TAJBank Emerges Nigeria’s Biggest Non-Interest Bank

Published

2 weeks ago

October 23, 2025

The Gleamer

Cyril Ogar

After five years of operations in Nigeria’s rapidly evolving non-interest banking (NIB) space, TAJBank Limited has become the biggest player in the NIB subsector based on its total assets and gross earnings values.

Disclosing this during his paper presentation on the key performance indices in the non-interest banking space over the past few years at a seminar organized by Leaders Corporate Services with the theme “Roles of Non-Interest Banks In SMEs’ Financing” for SME entrepreneurs yesterday in Abuja, an investment expert, Mr. Olabode Akeredolu-Ale, maintained that based on the non-interest banks’ approved financial statements for the half year 2025, TAJBank currently remained the biggest in terms of its total assets.

The expert, a chartered stockbroker, specifically confirmed that his recent investment researches on the NIBs and their financial performances showed that TAJBank, with its total assets rising to N1.017 trillion in half year 2025 up from N953.098 billion as of December 2024, which is about N53 billion higher than the nearest NIB’s assets, now ranked top in the banking subsector.

According to him, TAJBank’s gross earnings for H1 2025 also surged to N53.752 billion from N32.86 billion as of December 2024, representing a 64% growth, and higher than the nearest NIB’s gross earnings in the period under review.

This is even as he disclosed that on the NIBs’ earnings per share during the half year, TAJBank reported N61.36 kobo earnings per share, about 92% higher than the earnings per share of the next NIB during the period.

Akeredolu-Ale, who is also a chartered accountant, clarified: “The figures I am reeling out here on the NIBs are sourced from the banking and capital market regulatory institutions’ platforms, which anyone can access to verify.

“I am part of this event because of my research interest in non-interest banking and how the players in the subsector in Nigeria can help to leverage their competencies in innovation and ethical banking to support our MSMEs.

“Today, the MSMEs cannot access DMBs’ loans due to high lending rates and other inclement macroeconomic factors. This is where I think the NIBs have become very crucial to Nigeria’s economic growth.

“Overall, my findings on the NIBs indicated that they are all trying their best with non-interest loans to support entrepreneurs, particularly the MSMEs owners. I have advised those of them at this seminar to explore the cost-friendly financing options of the NIBs to grow their businesses by opening accounts with the NIBs”, the expert added.

Another speaker at the event, Benjamin Chukwudi, also commended the NIBs for their “catalytic roles in helping SMEs to access interest-free loans and providing them the needed financial management advisory, which have been helping them in sustaining their operations in the face of rising cost of doing business in the country.”

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