President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Uzoma Nwagba as the managing director and chief executive officer of the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CrediCorp).

The appointment was announced by presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

The corporation was established by the federal government to accelerate consumer credit access to 50% of working Nigerians by 2030.

CrediCorp will achieve this mission by fixing the structural barriers to accessing consumer credit in Nigeria and catalysing the market with capital, guarantees, and policy.

CrediCorp, including its initial ₦100 billion consumer credit fund, works closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the financial sector, identity management, credit registries, fintechs, consumer protection, and policymakers on this mission.

The CrediCorp business is focused on unifying, standardising and democratising credit registry and credit scores in Nigeria, with NIN as the singular identifier.

It will also provide credit guarantees to financial institutions to accelerate people-centred credit products and incentivise the purchase of locally manufactured goods and services.

The organisation will provide wholesale and catalytic lending to financial institutions committed to advancing consumer credit.

Mr Ngelale said that the appointment was in keeping with Mr Tinubu’s dedicated efforts to ensure financial inclusion and economic prosperity for majority of Nigerians.

He said prior to his appointment, Mr Nwagba served as chief operating officer of the Bank of Industry in charge of driving micro-credit and other financial interventions.

Mr Ngelale said the appointee had also served as senior investment associate, specialising in financial services in the areas of banking, insurance and pension at the African Capital Alliance.

He said before then, Mr Nwagba was a software engineer at Microsoft, where he led multiple teams building enterprise and mobile software for emerging markets in Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Nigeria.

The spokesman said the President expected Mr Nwagba to bring to bear his wealth of experience in finance and technology, as well as his record in driving financial interventions across Nigeria in this new role.

According to him, the target is to expand access to credit to all classes of Nigerians while promoting financial inclusion and enhancing the quality of life of the people.

(NAN)