By Providence Obuh

The International Finance Corporation has advised Commercial Banks in Nigeria to see it as a duty to  assist  in funding Microfinance Banks (MfBs) in the country. Country Manager for IFC Nigeria, Eme Essien-Lore, gave the advice at a function in Lagos, where she said that there are lots of potential for commercial banks to be lending to microfinance banks in the country than looking for external capital.

Essien-Lore added that only the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and International lenders give out loan inform of funding to Nigeria MfI’s. According to her, “Commercial banks in Nigeria should be lending to MfB’s, but they are not, and we will like to encourage commercial banks to see it as an asset class they can invest in and the benefits of that is enormous.

“If you look at MfBs that are borrowing in Nigeria today, they are borrowing from the CBN and the other lenders are international lenders. International lenders see value in some of the MfBs in the country and they invest in them. It is imperative for Nigeria institutions to be seeing the value of MfBs in Nigeria.

“There are lot more potential for commercial banks to be lending to microfinance banks in this country instead of looking for external capital. We want to see more support for microfinance in Nigeria especially microfiannce institutions that are doing extremely well in terms of reaching out to low income segment and providing them with funding they need to generate economic activity,” she said.