The Federal Government has set its sights on providing consumer credit to more than two million Nigerians in 2027, as it scales up a programme that has so far unlocked ₦53.5 billion in credit for over 351,000 beneficiaries.
The Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation disbursed more than ₦45.2 billion in the first half of the year. It reached 300,000 beneficiaries by July and intends to close 2026 with more than 500,000.
The corporation’s Managing Director, Mr Uzoma Nwagba, disclosed this in an interview with The Nation at the weekend.
He said CREDICORP was going beyond the provision of loans, using credit to stimulate local production, strengthen Nigerian businesses and create jobs.
According to him, women make up 59 per cent of the beneficiaries so far.
The corporation’s reach is backed by 37 participating financial institutions (PFIs), made up of banks, microfinance banks and finance companies. CREDICORP plans to increase the number to 45 before the end of the year, paying particular attention to lenders with strong networks in rural and underserved communities.
Access to formal consumer credit remains limited for many Nigerians, especially outside the major urban centres.
“Our interventions focus on five thematic areas where consumer credit can directly improve livelihoods and stimulate economic activity: vehicles, renewable energy, digital devices, home improvement and life essentials,” Nwagba said.
Through its SCALE initiative, short for “Securing Consumer Access for Local Enterprises”, CREDICORP connects credit-backed consumers with Nigerian manufacturers and vendors. The goal is for the demand generated by its financing to support local businesses rather than imports.
Nwagba said more than 10,000 customers had benefited from SCALE, mainly in the vehicles, home improvement and life essentials categories. The initiative is being carried out with more than 15 local manufacturers and vendors.
“We are helping Nigerian businesses access thousands of credit-backed customers, using consumer credit to strengthen purchasing power while stimulating local production, enterprise and jobs,” he said.
CREDICORP said its credit arrangements had so far recorded zero non-performing loans. This is significant as it seeks to grow the market without creating a fresh burden of bad debts for participating institutions.
Nwagba said the corporation was working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and credit bureaus to strengthen the systems required for a sustainable credit market, including the quality of credit information available to lenders.
He also called for a comprehensive credit identification system linked to the National Identification Number (NIN). He said such an all-encompassing credit score would give Nigerians a formal record of their borrowing and repayment behaviour, enabling responsible borrowers to build stronger financial identities and eventually qualify for larger loans and better terms.
Credit education is also at the centre of CREDICORP’s expansion. Nwagba said it was targeting more than 10 million Nigerians every year with education on responsible borrowing, repayment discipline, credit scores and healthy credit histories.
Under its YouthCred programme, more than 60,000 young Nigerians have received credit education. The programme has widened beyond National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and employed youths to cover young entrepreneurs. It pairs financial education with access to credit, allowing participants to establish formal credit records and start building repayment histories.
The corporation will also offer technical assistance and capacity building to participating institutions in product design, credit assessment, data use, portfolio management and responsible lending.
Nwagba said its role was not merely to give financial institutions more money but to help them build the capacity to lend responsibly and sustainably.
He said the next phase would involve more capital channelled through financial institutions, stronger lenders, wider rural coverage, better credit infrastructure and increased credit-backed demand for Nigerian goods.
“We see consumer credit becoming an engine for economic inclusion, local enterprise and broader economic growth,” he said.
The CREDICORP boss said members of the public had been benefiting for almost two years, adding that civil servants accounted for only about 10 per cent of beneficiaries.
“Most of our programmes (CALM, SCALE, YouthCred, Women in Mobility, etc.) are all for the general public and the beneficiaries are everyday people (traders, artisans, office workers, youth corps members and entrepreneurs,),” he said
