By Emmanuel Elebeke
The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, says the traditional banks’ lending process, is responsible for the slow pace of growth of Small and Medium, Scale Enterprises in Nigeria.
The NITDA boss made the observation today in a Webinar conference organised by FinTech Association of Nigeria with the theme: “COVID-19: Enabling Speedy Business and Economic Recovery Through Regulations.”
He stated that the lending process has long been a barrier to assessing finance for SMEs in Nigeria and has been impacting the operations of the SMEs, adding that the banks need to come up with innovative ideas to assist vulnerable SMEs in the era of COVID-19 that is plaguing the world.
He therefore called on financial institutions in the country to increase lending rate for Small and Medium Enterprises, especially the Financial Technology (FinTech) start up in order to promote financial inclusiveness in the country.
He said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted SMEs around the world, Nigeria inclusive. Traditional bank lending process has long been a barrier to accessing finance for SMEs in Nigeria.”
He, however, informed that the government is providing different types of interventions and palliatives but regretted that Financial Technology is not being employed optimally for disbursement.
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“Our interventions are to help lead the tech startups from crisis to recovery as well as support them to navigate today’s challenging business landscape,” he added.
While reiterating the promise of president Muhammadu Buhari Administration to lift 100 million Nigeria out of poverty in 10 years, the DG Abdullahi expressed optimism that government would support investment in startups to create jobs and future prosperity for all.
He explained that, NITDA as an Information Technology regulator in the country with twin mandates to regulate and develop the sector, had designed initiatives meant to provide a secure base for startup ecosystem with inclusion of FinTech startups.
‘‘Immediately the government pronounced the lockdown, NITDA constituted a 10-man committee named Tech4Covid with objectives to identify innovative solutions to address the pandemic; provide enabling policies and incentives to cushion the impact of the pandemic; and build massive digital skills to re-skill the region to leverage technology in different sectors.’’
On funding for the innovative ideas of the startups, the NITDA DG recalled that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami had directed all parastatals under the supervision of the ministry to make provision for innovative research and innovations.
The post Traditional Banks’ lending process impedes SMEs growth – NITDA DG appeared first on Vanguard News.
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