CREDIT management and administration in the country is still at its infancy, Mr. Benedict Olugboyega Alabi, a financial cum facility management expert has said.
Speaking in exclusive interview with The Nation in Lagos, Alabi, who is Group President/CEO of Eliezer Group of Companies, said it was regrettable that Nigerians have not been able to harness the opportunities inherent in credit administration.
Part of the reason for this, he said, is the lack of the right skills set among credit experts.
To address the skills gap, he said: “It is my suggestion that anybody that has rose to the level of assistant manager in a bank must be a member of Institute of Credit Administration as part of their criteria for further promotion so I think that is very important.”
Expatiating, he said most Nigerians are not really financially literate as such they may not know what to really do. “For example, I want to do a business, I need N15million, forgetting that I should have a plan on how to make N10 million out of it. You have staff salary to pay out of it. By the time you have such interest within you every month the business itself might not strive any longer.”
While commenting on how far the government has encouraged the giving, taking and managing of credit on Nigeria, he said, there still a room for improvement.
“The credit culture we have here is bad but we continue to blame the operators. Agreed some operators are just fraudulent, over there they don’t do that. It’s like killing yourself. So, you cannot really compare that until you get to that level. But let’s come back to Africa because my company operates in Ghana, we operate in Cameroon and also Kenya, and then we can compare. In Cameroon, the borrowing formula is 12 to 14 per cent which we are still clamoring at 61 per cent, yes we also have some security but we also learn on the business because we have international banks doing businesses there, who will be doing more transactions in market dynamics than in security, it is easier there than here. Then in Ghana, you have bank’s that have flocked into that country to operate. But when you go to other banks in Ghana, like the Standard Chartered Bank, you will see that their mode of operation is different from other bank’s over there in the sense that they look at your profile from where you are and they are ready to give you facility because they are in a more sane environment than in Nigeria. The interest rate there too is high because of the competition that has flooded there. But the fact is that we are not doing well, because we are supposed to be the pacesetter.”