Yemisi Izuora
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has implored Banks to open business operations in the north east part of the country to provide access to help resuscitate business activities in the once devastated area by Boko Haram insurgents.
The NDIC hopes that resumption of banking operations will facilitate access to funds to business men and women in the region.
Oriental News Nigeria reports that only 25 per cent of adults out of the estimated population of 26.26 million people in the region have access to financial services.
The NDIC Managing Director, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, said concerted efforts must be made to economically revive the North East as the region has a very large population that cannot be neglected and appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to encourage Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs), DMBs and other players in the financial sector to return to the region and catalyze economic growth and prosperity.
Ibrahim in his paper titled “Rebuilding Financial Infrastructure in the North East, which he presented through by Deputy Director, Development Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sani Mohammed, at the opening of the workshop for Business editors and finance correspondents, FICAN in Kano, called for collaboration between the CBN and governors in the North East to fashion ways of attracting investment to the region.
According to him, “I think with this low percentage of people having access to formal financial service, there is need for more collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Governors of the North East, I will love to see a situation whereby we sit with the government of the North East because without their collaboration, there is not much we can achieve.
“Secondly, it will be very necessary for the CBN to find a way of providing some incentives to DMBs, Microfinance Banks, Primary Mortgage Banks and other financial institution to come back to the North East”.
The NDIC MD urged the National Assembly to do everything possible to push the CBN to provide some of the much needed incentives for the banks to come back to the North East.
Deputy Director, Development Finance, CBN, Sani Mohammed, said the justification for rebuilding the North East is because of the region’s potential for Agricultural development and fitting into the Federal Government’s economic development and diversification agenda.
He thereafter said the North East presents an enormous potential to contribute to the economy, adding that the apex bank will continue to support initiatives to ensure access to financial services.
“The current vision to drive the North East infrastructural redevelopment stems from the presidential initiative for the North East. The North East presents an enormous potential to contributing to the economy and the CBN will continue to support initiatives to ensure access to formal financial services”, Mohammed said.