President Bola Tinubu on Monday, said the National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC) has within one year issued a total of N21.59 billion in guarantees, to 67,512 borrowers across 25 states.
The president, writing on his official X handle, formerly Twitter @PBAT, also revealed that ‘participating lenders have also advanced about N46.95 billion, in loans, on the strength of those guarantees’.
The credit-based company was establish in May, 2025, with a capital base of N100 billion, as a loan guarantee company, to help small businesses overcome the barriers that keep them from finance.
Tinubu noted that this guarantees mean that for ‘every N1 in guarantees, it has helped unlock about N2.17 in credit.’
He said ‘so far, 67,512 borrowers across 25 states and the FCT have received credit backed by NCGC, while 11,374 if the beneficiaries are women.
A further breakdown of this shows that 33.5 percent or 22,000 Nigerians entered the records as ‘ first-time formal borrowers’
‘For more than 22,000 Nigerians, this is their first entry into the formal credit system.’ he said.
The President through the scheme, a ‘worker with access to credit can buy what the family needs and pay over time, and a small business can invest today against the income it expects tomorrow.
‘We have been building the institutions to make that possible. Through CREDICORP, working Nigerians can access consumer credit. Our students can finance their education through NELFUND, while the Bank of Industry and Development Bank of Nigeria continue to lend to businesses.
‘The National Credit Guarantee Company @ncgc takes on one of the hardest barriers to business credit’.
Before the emergence of CREDICORP, many viable businesses met the same obstacle of being unable to secure credit at the banks
‘Lenders see too much risk in a sound business when the owner has little collateral or no credit history.
‘We established NCGC to help change that. It carries part of the lending risk with participating financial institutions, giving them greater confidence to lend to businesses and borrowers they might otherwise turn away.’
To ensure the success of the scheme, the NCGC is working through 19 financial institutions, 13 commercial banks, three microfinance banks and three development finance institutions.
The president recalled that during his campaign for the Presidency in 2023, he had ‘promised to move Nigeria towards a credit-based economy and to establish a loan guarantee scheme that would help small businesses overcome the barriers that keep them from finance.
Tinubu while noting that many Nigerians now have a credit record they can build, added that ‘each successful repayment strengthens that record and can make the next loan easier to secure.
‘Credit matters because of what people can do with it. A trader can restock before the festive season. When a manufacturer takes a bigger order and buys another machine to fill it, another Nigerian gets a job.
‘NCGC estimates that the businesses it has supported account for 661,291 direct and indirect jobs.
‘This is how we move from reforms to opportunities. Our reforms laid the foundation. Credit gives Nigerians the means to build on it. Tens of thousands who stood outside formal credit a year ago are now inside, borrowing to grow.’
He assured that his administration will keep widening the ‘road until the opportunities our reforms create reach homes and businesses in every part of Nigeria.
‘Promise made, Promise Kept. We are moving from reforms to opportunities. Nigeria First’ he said.