Accion Microfinance Bank and Nigeria Consumer Credit Corporation have partnered to provide affordable financing for tricycles and motorcycles for riders in Lagos.
The vehicles were officially handed to the riders at an event held in Lagos on Thursday.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Managing Director/CEO of Accion Microfinance Bank, Taiwo Joda, said, “This was made possible by President Bola Tinubu, who had the vision and the drive. When CrediCorp called to sell this vision to Accion Micro Finance Bank and asked, ‘Are you ready to run with us?’, we said, ‘It is about impact; we are ready to go the whole hog and every mile to show that we care. This is not just about financial intervention but about making people have meaning in their lives. It is about financial health and making people look away from trying to corruptly enrich themselves to realising that hard work pays, and if they have the tools in their hands, there is no limit to where a Nigerian can grow to.
“The critical role that Accion MFB played is to be able to link the underserved and unserved to financial possibilities and vehicles that can uplift their welfare. We partnered with CRediCorp, which serves as a wholesale banker; they don’t give piecemeal credit; we are the ones who give it in piecemeal. Each of the tricycles costs N3.6m to the end users, and we allow them to pay in installments over 24 months. What we have done is basically remove the risk for them to have access to the products and also tell CrediCorp and assure them 100 per cent that their money will come back to them because we know that these people are honest and reliable. We have subjected them to our risk algorithm, and we know that they can take this loan.”
He urged the riders to obey all traffic laws in Nigeria and noted that the project would be expanded to Ilorin, Kano, and Kaduna and be inclusive of more women.
The Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Consumer Credit Corporation, Uzoma Nwagba, affirmed that the provision of consumer credit has a multiplier effect on the economy.
“Consumer credit is just about the only non-negotiable tool in an economy of this size to enhance people’s quality of life and to stem corruption by reducing the pressure that people face to amass funds to be able to pay for stuff up front.”
They can get the same things and pay over time. It is, in fact, to catalyse the local industry by using credit to buy made-in-Nigeria goods, provide a market for our local industries, and in doing so, create millions of jobs,” he averred.
The Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, Joseph Osanipin, called for an improvement in the local composition of the vehicles.
He said, “When are we going to have 50 per cent local content in these tricycles? This is what we want you to do. By the time we are getting more patronage through the availability of funds, we want you to reciprocate the government’s gesture by also investing in patronising producers of components that are made in Nigeria.
“I have discussed with the Bank of Industry so that we can support more of the suppliers of your products. Because CrediCorp is not going to support them, but the Bank of Industry has said it would support them so that they can produce most of your components for you locally, stimulate this economy further so that the multiplier effect can improve and we will be able to concern foreign exchange.”
