Posted by By Emmanuel Obe, Onitsha on
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Friday put bank deposits in Nigerian banks at N6.7 trillion.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Friday put bank deposits in Nigerian banks at N6.7 trillion.
Soludo, who spoke in Onitsha, Anambra State, at the inauguration of the Entrepreneurial Development Centre, said the figure jumped from N1.2tr in 2003, the total deposits before the successful consolidation of the banking sector. The Director of the EDC, Prof. Alex Ikeme, said the centre was conceived to create an entrepreneurial Nigerian workforce in order to liberate the economy from total dependence on government.
He identified poor quality graduates, weakness of industrial working experience and lack of entrepreneurial spirit among Nigerian graduates as factors that had made them unemployable.
Soludo said the number of depositors with Nigerian banks rose from 13 million in 2003 to 25 million in the post-consolidation period.
He noted that confidence in the banking sector had risen with the sector dominating 75 per cent of the capital market, which remains the fastest growing in Africa. According to him, 'We are encouraged to be ambitious to become the hub of African business by 2020.'
But he said the Nigerian banking public was yet to take advantage of the benefits in the sector, noting that 50 per cent of them were yet to access public finance.
He said that was why micro-finance banks were being encouraged to grow and reach the millions of ordinary people who require credit for their businesses. Soludo said at the last count, 760 micro-finance banks had been licenced, with 20 awaiting approval. According to him, Anambra State has about 80 micro-finance banks, making it second to Lagos.
He, however, stated that the micro-finance operators and their customers would need to be trained on special skills to make optimum use of their services. He said the Central Bank initiated the EDC because 'it wants finance to work for the poor' and recommended the programme to states and local governments. The Onitsha centre is being implemented by the University of Nigeria while there are two others in Kano and Lagos.
The programme was attended by the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, and officials of Imo and Delta states.