President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has charged the banking and financial services sector to play stronger roles in ensuring that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) become “fit for purpose” as well as provide them full support to excel. He said such financial intermediation would be essential at the time like this when Nigerians are grappling with the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is just as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, revealed that the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) Plc established in collaboration with the African Finance Corporation (AFC) and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to raise N15 trillion for infrastructure development would be unveiled in October. Emefiele also hinted that the Nigerian International Financial Centre (NIFC) which would act as an international gateway for capital and investments, driven by technology and payment system infrastructure, would also be established within the next 12 months. The president and the CBN Governor said this at the opening ceremony of the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Abuja.