By Tony Obiechina Abuja

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has said that National Institute of Credit Administration (NICA) signals that an unprecedented foundation has now been laid by this present administration for the transition of Nigeria’s economy from a cash-based to a credit-based system that would serve as catalyst for economic growth and development.

Speaking at the unveiling of the NICA Act 2022 in Lagos on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, she noted that no economy grows without the use of credit and there is no example of any advanced society where credit is not in use.

Mrs. Ahmed said: “The journey that brought us to this stage had no doubt been very daunting and challenging.

However, I am excited that through sheer determination and the painstaking commitments of critical stakeholders, we are here to witness yet another major milestone in our nation’s quest to institutionalise systems that would ensure the steady growth, stability and sustainability of our economy.

“It is, however, imperative to state that credit at any level or sector, if not properly managed, could spell doom for an economy. This is why the federal government took deliberate steps towards ensuring an enduring credit system within our economy to be managed by reputable professionals”.

Continuing, she said: “The professional status of Nigeria credit managers has evolved. As you all know, accountants, attorneys, doctors, and engineers, amongst others, all pass through lawful processes to qualify as professionals. This means that, for an occupation to qualify for the status of being professional, it needs to satisfy certain criteria that can be used to evaluate such work.

“In the past, individuals came into the credit management field without prior preparation and certification. What this signified for our credit management system was that the specialised knowledge and skills required for the effectiveness of credit management practitioners were only haphazardly learned through work experience rather than a robust and thorough certification process,”

The Minister stated that the above situation and the attendant need for thorough credit professionals, coupled with the rapid pace of change in credit management, indicated that the need for a sound approach to learning credit-related skills, certification and regulation of the activities of credit management professionals is now required more than ever.

She also said that this would ensure adherence to standards, check unethical conducts and insider abuse resulting to sharp practices in the industry as well as grow the economy to the point of providing desired jobs and creating wealth.
“You may recall that one of the incidents that triggered economic and financial meltdown world-wide years back was largely due to lack of attention to sound and disciplined credit management systems.

“This re-enforces the need for every country desirous of sustainable economic growth and development to amongst others institutionalise necessary regulatory frameworks for proper credit management and provide necessary safeguards and infrastructure to protect local credit markets.

Mrs. Ahmed charged NICA to ensure that bad management of trade credit, unethical handling of consumer credit, and unprofessional treatment in business credit dealings with SMEs are reduced to the barest minimum.

She commended the efforts of patriotic Nigerians and professional institutions and particularly Mr. Chris Onalo, the Professor of credit management, who has over the last three decades championed the course of seeing that credit management becomes a distinct profession in Nigeria.

“The National Assembly must also be commended for the consistent support to this administration to deliver on its promises through enacting laws critical to the successes we have recorded so far.
She, therefore, called on all key players to support the institute to deliver its mandate for the development of a robust credit-based economy and to also take advantage of the Act to entrench professionalism and ethical conduct in the management of credit for the growth and development of the country”, she added.