Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is set to deliver over 2000 outlets for the proposed NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB). This was disclosed by NIPOST’s Director in charge of Finance and Investment, Usman Shaba.
Shaba, who was represented at a two-day seminar organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria in Gombe State (CBN) for financial journalists, also noted that 106 NIPOST outlets have already been selected for the first phase of the rollout of the NMFB across the country.
The move to deliver these outlets, according to Shaba, is in line with its efforts to boost financial inclusion in Nigeria.
“The investments made by the government in postal outlets all over the federation in time past would now be put to use to reach the unbanked.
“A lot of Nigerians are unbanked and these unbanked people are mostly in the rural communities and these postal outlets will be leveraged upon to promote financial inclusion in the unbanked communities.
“So what NIPOST is doing essentially is to improve on these outlets. Over 2000 of them nationwide to make available as outlets for the commercial banks and in particular the NMFB.”
The bank has been designed to drive and deepen financial inclusion, provide easy access to credit, and other financial services to SMEs. It also aims to reduce the unemployment rate in the rural areas, whilst inevitably reducing rural-urban migration.
According to the Chairman of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Aliyu Abdulhameed, the new bank would effectively serve the millions of small entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers in the country.
“The mission and strategy of NMFB are focused on making significant, sustainable and measurable impact on small businesses across Nigeria and, by extension, on the lives of millions of Nigerians dependent on them in the overall interest of the economy.”
NIRSAL Microfinance Bank is expected to bring about a revolution in the country’s financial sector, whilst serving specifically to the advantage of MSMEs.
More so, the new financial institution, which is a product of a tripartite partnership between the Bankers’ Committee, NIRSAL, and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), would be saddled with administering banks’ Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) funds. The bank would disburse the huge SMEs funds contributed by the banks which have been sitting idle with CBN.