The National Credit Guarantee Company Limited (NCGC) says it has supported ₦64.13 billion in loans to 174,495 borrowers across Nigeria, using credit guarantees to help businesses and individuals access financing through participating financial institutions.
The company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Bonaventure Okhaimo, disclosed the figures on Tuesday during a briefing with State House correspondents in Abuja to mark the company’s first year of operations. The performance report, covering activities up to October 21, showed that NCGC deployed ₦30.19 billion in guarantees to support the loans.
Okhaimo explained that NCGC does not lend directly to borrowers. Instead, it provides partial guarantees to financial institutions, sharing part of the risk associated with lending to eligible customers who may struggle to meet conventional collateral requirements.
Through partnerships with 19 commercial banks, microfinance banks and development finance institutions, every ₦1 in guarantees supported approximately ₦2.12 in loans, according to the company. Under its standard framework, the guarantee can cover up to 60 per cent of eligible loan exposure.
Women accounted for 74,503 beneficiaries, representing 42.7 per cent of the total. The company also reported that 22,616 borrowers accessed formal financing for the first time, while 7,731 beneficiaries were recorded under youth empowerment initiatives. Trade and commerce, agribusiness and agro-processing accounted for just over 80 per cent of borrowers supported by the scheme.
The company said participating financial institutions reported 175,481 direct jobs associated with supported borrowers. It estimated another 739,310 indirect jobs, bringing the total number of jobs impacted to 914,791. The indirect employment figure is an estimate based on economic multipliers, rather than a direct count of individual jobs.
To improve access to credit for women-owned businesses, NCGC introduced GuaranteeHer, a gender-responsive credit guarantee framework launched in July and formally unveiled at the company’s first-anniversary stakeholders’ forum in September. The initiative is designed to strengthen existing women-focused lending programmes offered by participating banks, potentially helping them provide financing with lower collateral requirements, reduced interest rates and longer repayment periods.
GuaranteeHer targets more than ₦100 billion in lending over five years, financing for at least 20,000 women-owned micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and support for more than 150,000 direct and indirect jobs. Its framework provides for guarantee coverage of up to 70 per cent of eligible loan exposure, subject to a maximum limit of ₦50 million per borrower.
NCGC has also entered partnerships with organisations including the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to support financial literacy and business capacity building. Its broader goal is to reduce barriers that prevent viable businesses from obtaining formal credit, particularly where insufficient collateral limits access to bank financing.
The figures come as Nigerian businesses continue to face challenges accessing affordable financing. In an earlier report, TheDailyNewsHub examined the issue in “Nigerian Businesses Need More Than Loans to Grow, Says Oyedele”, which highlighted the importance of patient capital, experienced investors and institutional support alongside conventional lending.
While the NCGC figures indicate that its guarantees have helped participating lenders extend credit to a large number of borrowers, the longer-term impact will depend on loan performance, the sustainability of the guarantee scheme and whether businesses can use the financing to expand operations, improve productivity and maintain employment.