‎NCGC unlocks N64bn credit, vows to end collateral barrier for viable businesses

‎By Johnbosco Agbakwuru ‎ABUJA– THE National Credit Guarantee Company Limited (NCGC) on Tuesday said its guarantees have already unlocked ₦64.13 billion in loans for 174,495 borrowers nationwide, as it intensifies efforts to dismantle the collateral barriers that have long shut viable Nigerian businesses out of formal credit. It said it is supporting an estimated 914,791 direct and indirect jobs within its first 14 months of operation. ‎‎Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr.

Bonaventure Okhaimo, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the presidential villa, Abuja, on the company’s achievements, challenges and expansion plans. ‎‎The company, which was established by President Bola Tinubu to dismantle longstanding barriers to credit access, has also disclosed that 22,616 Nigerians who had never accessed formal bank credit have secured loans through its intervention, while women now account for 42.7 per cent of beneficiaries. ‎‎Okhaimo, who was accompanied by the Executive Director, Risk Management, Professor Ezekiel Oseni, and Executive Director, Strategy and Operations, Mrs.

Tinuola Aigwedo, among others, explained that the company had deployed N30.19 billion in credit guarantees to unlock the N64.13 billion in loans as of October 21, 2026. ‎‎He said the intervention had enabled participating financial institutions to extend loans to previously excluded businesses and individuals, particularly those unable to meet conventional collateral requirements. ‎‎According to him, the initiative has already reached more than 170,000 beneficiaries through 19 participating financial institutions, including commercial and microfinance banks. ‎‎”For every one naira that we give as a credit guarantee to a bank, it creates two naira in loans.

That’s the additionality”, Okhaimo explained. ‎‎He stressed that President Tinubu established the company to address a fundamental weakness in Nigeria’s financial system, where otherwise viable businesses were routinely denied credit because they lacked acceptable collateral. ‎‎”The President has said, don’t let a viable Nigerian business suffer because it doesn’t have collateral.

He has taken the collateral and given it to the bank. So that’s what we are doing”, he said. ‎‎Explaining the operational model, Okhaimo said NCGC does not lend directly to businesses or individuals but provides guarantees that encourage financial institutions to extend credit to borrowers they would ordinarily consider too risky. ‎‎He said the company currently assumes up to 60 per cent of the credit risk on eligible loans, allowing lenders to relax collateral requirements while retaining responsibility for credit assessment, loan monitoring and recovery. ‎‎According to him, some banks traditionally demand collateral worth more than 150 per cent of the amount being borrowed, a practice that excludes many small businesses despite their commercial viability. ‎‎”What we are saying is, forget about collateral.

Do the other due diligence. As long as the customer’s business is viable and the customer has good character, we are willing to support by giving you a credit guarantee that will enable you to give loans to your customers”, he stated. ‎‎On employment generation, the NCGC boss said the company’s interventions had supported 914,791 jobs, comprising direct employment reported by participating banks and indirect employment estimated through recognised development finance multipliers. ‎‎He explained that the indirect employment calculations were based on sector-specific multipliers, including those used by the African Development Bank, with NCGC attributing employment impact according to its share of guaranteed credit risk. ‎‎Speaking on the initiative, Aigwedo said women entrepreneurs remained disproportionately excluded from formal credit because of their limited ownership of assets acceptable as collateral. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎