By By, Uchechukwu Ugboaja
The President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Prof Segun Ajibola during the public hearing of a Bill before the National Assembly has stated that the speedy passage of the new bill will expose bad borrowers in the financial system that has slowed down economic growth of the country.
Speaking with members of the press after the public hearing for major stakeholders which also included the Central Bank, Prof Ajibola said he was satisfied with the presentations of most of the stakeholders who all believed that there is need for reform in the industry owing to several bad loans and sharp practices that have bedeviled the financial system.
According to the President of the Institute and a renowned banker with decades of practice, he asserted that ordinary Nigerians will benefit from this new bill before the national assembly which will aid the flow of business amongst Nigerians. For him, this is one of the fastest ways to get out of this current economic recession the country is witnessing and he said he is sure that the National Assembly will do justice to it for the benefit of ordinary Nigerians.
The issue of identifying bad lenders in the financial system has slowed down the credit or lending processes in the country and it has become something that even the good lenders become affected, therefore in his view there is need to establish a credit bureau or commission which will provide the financial institutions with up to date information on bad lenders. This is important because a lot of Nigerians need access to credit and some of the bad ones use multiple identities to manipulate the system in order to access these loans.
He also expressed confidence that the current bill will also address the need to distinguish between the sex of customers as Nigerians do have unisex names and it becomes difficult for the system to distinguish who is actually the authentic personality behind an account. If this is sorted out through this bill a lot of Nigerians will have less difficulty in accessing the loans within the banking sector.
