Posted by From ISAAC ANUMIHE and EKAETTE, Abuja on
President Umar Yar'Adua yesterday declared that about $8 billion to $10 billion is needed annually to reach Vision 2020 goals.
President Umar Yar'Adua yesterday declared that about $8 billion to $10 billion is needed annually to reach Vision 2020 goals.
Declaring open the second Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) International Micro Finance Conference and Annual Micro Entrepreneurship Awards, in Abuja, the president called for increase in public private partnership as the government was making effort to provide a regulatory framework for them.
While calling on the elite to spearhead the micro-finance project, he said making financial services to the active poor would help achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The president, who was represented by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman promised that his administration was making effort to improve the infrastructure, especially security, water, power and development of the Niger Delta.
'To achieve these goal, we intend to make significant effort to improve in the provision of physical and social infrastructure, especially security, power, transport, road, rails and water, and the development of the Niger Delta," he said.
In his own remark, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Soludo observed that with the consolidation of banks, about 7 million depositors have been added to the banking sector and customers' deposits in the 24 commercial banks is now N4.3 trillion.
He said that with about 600 newly-approved Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs) in the country, there have been improvements in the banking sector since the consolidation of the banks.
According to him, Nigeria now has 24 strong banks with about 2,300 to 4,200 branches and credits of over 80 per cent on year-on-year basis contrary to the practice in the past.
But he said that Nigeria has a very long way to go because the vast majority of Nigerians cannot access the loans thus prompting the launch of Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs) to help service the communities.
Soludo also observed that even though the economy has improved tremendously, Nigeria still has infrastructural challenges which include, security, water and power.