The Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP) has challenged consumers in the commercial city of Kano to leverage on the access to credit opportunities which the establishment of the corporation offers to enhance their living conditions.
Uzoma Nwagba, managing director of CREDICORP, said this in Kano recently, while flagging off a nationwide sensitisation programme initiated to educate Nigerians about the activities of the corporation.
He stated that the establishment of the corporation by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration had opened windows of opportunity for consumers in Nigeria, particularly those in Kano, to take reasonable credit risk.
Nwagba disclosed that the administration established a corporation with the sole aim of democratising access to consumer credit for Nigeria’s working population, in order to enhance the lives of the citizens.
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“Our goal is to achieve our mandate via three pillars: number one is to strengthen Nigeria’s consumer credit infrastructure, also ensuring every economically active citizen has a comprehensive credit score. This score becomes personal equity that they build, facilitating access to consumer credit.
“And to provide wholesale funding and credit guarantees to Financial Institutions committed to expanding consumer credit access today, and Cultural re-orientation of the public on responsible consumer credit as a pathway to a higher quality of life, and institutions on effective consumer credit underwriting as a path to growth”, he further disclosed.
Commenting on why the corporation resolved to choose Kano as the venue for the flagging off of the nationwide campaign, he said that the decision was informed by the age-long history of the state as a business centre.
“This campaign represents the third pillar of CREDICORP’s national strategy, Cultural Reorientation, which complements the Corporation’s other pillars, Infrastructure and Capital. In the last year this has already been demonstrated through the rollout of impactful initiatives such as Project S.C.A.L.E (Securing Consumer Access for Local Enterprises), which channels consumer credit toward the purchase of goods and services from local vendors and manufacturers to strengthen Nigeria’s domestic industries; the C.A.L.M. Fund (Credit Access for Light and Mobility).
“Provides credit for CNG vehicle conversions and solar home systems; and YouthCred, a national programme offering responsible, affordable credit to young Nigerians at the very start of their economic lives, beginning with 100,000 NYSC members.
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“Cultural Reorientation is CREDICORP’s effort to shift long-standing perceptions around credit, helping Nigerians see it not as a trap, but as a tool for growth. The programme reorients the public through a mix of community training sessions, digital sensitisation campaigns, and on-ground activation events designed to promote responsible borrowing and financial literacy.
“It also engages financial institutions, encouraging a transition from traditional collateral-heavy models to more inclusive credit assessment methods that better reflect the realities of everyday Nigerians,” Nwagba explained.
According to him, the chief aim of the nationwide campaign was to disabuse the minds of Nigerians about the cultural belief that buying on credit is a devalued way of living, that people must keep away from.
He stated the campaign is all out to change this belief, and to help Nigerians to know that consumer credit provides the best opportunity for people to enhance their life, and the living standard of their family.
Nwagba noted that by embracing the idea of the consumer credit system, most working-class Nigerians to leverage on it to acquire consumer goods, such as cars, motorcycles, and solar infrastructure that will enable them to live well.
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Also, consumers in the state can also access credit for mortgage purposes, a development that frees them from the stress of house rents, noting that the repayment of such facilities is designed to take months or years.
He noted that presently, the corporation is working in collaboration with other partner institutions, in the public and private spheres, to deliver stress-free credit products to Nigerians.
In his address, Hussein Husseni, a director in the Kano State Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, who represented the ministry, said that the current administration in the state is pleased with the establishment of the corporation.
Hussein noted that Abba Kabiru Yusuf, governor of Kano State, is ready to partner with the management of the corporation to ensure that the citizens of the state maximise the benefits which its establishment offers.
