by Ogbeni Olawale Dawodu,
The President and Chairman of Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Dr. Dele Alabi, has said Nigeria’s improving macroeconomic indicators will amount to little if they fail to translate into lower living costs, more jobs, higher incomes and better living standards for citizens.
Alabi spoke on Tuesday at the opening of the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the CIBN in Abuja, where he said the ultimate test of Nigeria’s economic reforms should be their impact on households, businesses and the daily lives of ordinary Nigerians. His remarks come amid repeated concerns by economic experts that although the nation’s economy is stabilising and witnessing growth, this is yet to reflect in the lives of citizens currently facing harsh economic conditions.
“They are milestones, not the destination. The true test is whether stronger fundamentals translate into lower living costs, more jobs, higher real incomes, affordable credit, reliable public services and reduced poverty,” Alabi said. “Macroeconomic progress must, therefore, be felt at the micro level in households, small businesses and the daily lives of ordinary Nigerians. Our task is to build systems that learn, adapt and emerge stronger.”
He said the next phase of Nigeria’s economic reforms must focus on transmitting the gains from macroeconomic stability to businesses and households, adding that the conference was designed to give practical expression to the institute’s IMPACT Vision, which he unveiled on assuming office in May. He noted that the CIBN’s advocacy for scalable SME hubs across the country is a practical response to challenges confronting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which he said continue to grapple with high operating costs, poor infrastructure, limited market access, low productivity, skills gaps and slow digital adoption.
Also speaking at the event, Lead Private Sector Development Specialist at the World Bank’s Nigeria Office, Bertine Kamphuis, represented by the bank’s Division Director for Nigeria, Dr Mathew Verghis, said credit to Nigeria’s private sector remains inadequate. She urged banks to channel more financing to sectors with the greatest potential to create jobs, particularly agriculture, manufacturing and MSMEs, noting that with between three and four million young Nigerians entering the labour market yearly, expanding access to productive credit has become imperative.
Her remarks echoed a charge by President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, that Nigerian banks must rethink their approach to risk and play a more active role in financing productive sectors of the economy rather than focusing mainly on profits and shareholder returns.
“For years, we have measured financial institutions by balance-sheet growth, profitability and shareholder returns. These remain important. But we must increasingly ask: what is the financial system doing for the real economy?” Tinubu said. “A resilient banking system cannot exist indefinitely where businesses cannot obtain affordable credit, manufacturers struggle to finance expansion, and millions of productive MSMEs remain outside the formal financial system. This requires us to rethink risk. The safest loan on an individual bank’s balance sheet is not necessarily the best allocation of capital for the economy.”
The President said Nigeria’s economy has returned to a path of stability, with rising investor confidence, but cautioned against mistaking macroeconomic stability for prosperity. “Economic stability has returned. Credibility is rising. And prosperity is coming. These improvements matter. But we must not mistake macroeconomic stability for economic prosperity. Stability is the foundation; prosperity is the destination. The current phase of our reform journey is about accelerating the conversion of stability into investment, investment into production, production into jobs, and growth into improved living standards,” he said.
Tinubu added that the next phase of Nigeria’s development should not merely produce bigger banks with larger balance sheets, but a larger and more productive economy. “Capital must reach ideas, finance must enable enterprise, technology must expand opportunity, risks must be intelligently shared, and growth must translate into better lives for our people,” he said, stressing that the banking and financial services industry remains central to achieving that objective and urging banks to fully embrace their financial intermediation role.
On the ongoing bank recapitalisation exercise, the President said the initiative must deliver more than stronger balance sheets. “It must translate into capital formation in the real economy, financing Nigerian businesses as they expand across Africa and pursue our ambition of a one-trillion-dollar economy. A bigger bank that does not finance a more productive economy is a suboptimal outcome. We must build a system that finances potential and opportunity rather than quick gains for the privileged,” he said.
In his goodwill message, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, represented by the Deputy Governor in charge of Policy, Philip Ikeazor, said the large capital raised by banks during the recapitalisation exercise indicated the depth of capital available locally. He challenged industry operators to take advantage of the available capital to fund the real sectors of the economy, with a view to achieving rapid growth that would impact on better living standards for Nigerians. He also urged state governments to collaborate with the CBN and federal fiscal authorities to effectively tame inflation, pledging that single-digit inflation was achievable with the cooperation of all stakeholders.
