Osinbajo signs 2 new laws to ease access to credit for MSMEs

By -
*Acting President Yemi Osinbajo

(Nigeria) Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has signed into law two bills from  the National Assembly that will ultimately facilitate access to more affordable credit for Nigerians.
According to a statement on Tuesday by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice President,  “The bills which have now become 'Acts' are the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act, 2017 (otherwise known as Collateral Registry Act) and the Credit Reporting Act, 2017.
“The Collateral Registry Act' ensures that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, in Nigeria can register their movable assets such as motor vehicles, equipment and accounts receivable in the National Collateral Registry, and use same as collateral for accessing loans. This in turn will increase their chances at accessing financing and tackle one of the major obstacles faced by MSMEs.
“On the other hand, 'The Credit Reporting Act' provides for credit information sharing between Credit Bureaus and lenders (such as banks), as well as other institutions that provide services on credit such as telecommunication companies and retailers. (A Credit Bureau is defined as a company that collects information relating to the credit ratings of individuals and makes it available to financial institutions, who need such information to determine an individual's credit-worthiness and whether or not to grant loan applications to such individuals.)
“Access to credit is critical to economic growth and is considered to be the motor for driving private sector development. However, in Nigeria more than 70 percent of private enterprises, typically MSMEs, have limited or no access to credit. Credit applications get rejected due to insufficient credit history and information for the lender to use to make a reasonable judgement, as well as unacceptable collateral. The two new Acts remove those obstacles for MSMEs.
“Traditionally, banks only give loans to businesses that can provide fixed land and property as collateral. This shuts out MSMEs which usually own only movable assets like motor vehicles and equipment. The Collateral Registry Bill, 2017, will give confidence to lenders to utilise the Registry and thereby make credit available to MSMEs and individuals through the use of their movable assets as collateral.
“The Credit Reporting Act now enables lenders to make reasonable judgement on whether or not to extend credit to an individual, and reduces the cases of bad loans.
On February 21,  2017, the leadership of the National Assembly publicly committed to passing the two bills as part of the 60-Day National Action Plan for Ease of Doing Business initiated by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC. That promise was kept by the National Assembly last week with the Bills forwarded to the Acting President for assent.
“With the passage of these Acts, the existing Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Guidelines regulating the operations of the National Collateral Registry and Credit Bureaux have now been replaced by formal legal frameworks.
“The passage of these Acts would facilitate the achievement of the goals of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC, set up by President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2016 and chaired by the Vice-President to progressively make Nigeria an easier place for businesses to start and thrive,”  the statement added.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UBTH @50: Obaseki hails institution’s role in strengthening Edo healthcare

By -
Image
(Nigeria) Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, has commended the staff and management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, for their unwavering commitment, dedication, and hard work in providing high-quality healthcare services to the people of Edo State and Nigeria in the past fifty years. Obaseki, at a dinner organized in honour of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors of Nigeria, at the Government House, Benin City, reassured the government’s continuous partnership and collaboration with the federal government-owned health institution to strengthen the health system and ensure quality health delivery to Edo people. The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Philip Shaibu, reeled out the gains of the government’s reforms in the health sector, commending the medical centre for bolstering the government’s efforts at transforming Edo State into a health hub. He said, "We came into a wilderness where you have to cut a part for yourself and fix it. We held...
Read more

Osun: S'Court ruling affirmed power resides with the people - Diri

By -
Image
*Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri (Nigeria) Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said the ruling of the country’s apex court on the Osun State governorship election was an affirmation that power in a democracy resided with the people. Governor Diri, while congratulating Senator Ademola Adeleke in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, on Wednesday, expressed joy that the Supreme Court sealed the mandate freely given to the governor by the Osun people. The Bayelsa governor also said the verdict reflected the current mood of the country where those whose stock-in-trade is to promote electoral violence and subvert the will of the people have no place in our electoral system. He expressed the hope that introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, will instil more confidence in the electoral process, urging the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to deepen Nigeria’s democracy by also introducing electronic votin...
Read more

NBC has no powers to impose fine on broadcast stations --Court

By -
Image
(Nigeria) The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has been restrained by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, from imposing fines on broadcast stations in the country. Trial judge in the matter, Justice James Omotosho also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed on March 1, 2019, on each of 45 broadcast stations. The court made the orders in its judgment a suit by the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda, MRA, which had sued the NBC. Justice Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations. The court further held that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, which gives the commission the power to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law. He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law. He said that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at...
Read more