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The National Credit Guarantee Company Limited (NCGC) has unlocked ₦46.95 billion in credit for businesses and individuals across Nigeria within its first year of operations.
The company disclosed that it provided ₦21.59 billion in guarantee cover, which enabled participating financial institutions to extend approximately ₦46.95 billion in loans to 67,512 end-borrowers across 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The figures, recorded as of August 2026, were announced at the NCGC Stakeholders’ Forum 2026 in Lagos, held under the theme, “Credit Guarantees as a Catalyst for Inclusive Economic Growth.”
According to the NCGC, its intervention has also impacted an estimated 661,291 direct and indirect jobs, while 33.5 per cent of beneficiaries—more than 22,600 people—were first-time borrowers entering the formal credit market.
The company said the results demonstrated the potential of credit guarantees to improve access to finance by enabling lenders to share the risks associated with lending to businesses and underserved borrowers.
NCGC said it has partnered with 19 Participating Financial Institutions, comprising 13 commercial banks, three microfinance banks and three development finance institutions.
It also disclosed that 11,374 female-owned businesses had benefited from NCGC-backed lending as of August.
Speaking at the forum, NCGC Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr Bonaventure Okhaimo, said the first-year performance showed that changing the risk equation could significantly expand access to capital.
“When we change the risk equation, we can change who gets access to capital,” Okhaimo said.
He noted that while the ₦46.95 billion in credit unlocked was significant, the number of people reached and first-time borrowers entering the formal credit system represented an equally important achievement.
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Okhaimo explained that NCGC was established not to replace the financial system but to make it more effective for businesses and individuals historically excluded from formal credit.
Under its model, NCGC provides partial guarantees to participating financial institutions, absorbing an agreed portion of qualifying credit losses while lenders retain exposure and remain responsible for credit assessment, monitoring and recovery.
The company said the approach is designed to encourage lending to viable businesses where conventional collateral requirements and perceptions of risk might otherwise limit access to finance.
NCGC said its first-year performance comes against the backdrop of persistent financing challenges facing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which remain important to economic activity and job creation in Nigeria.
The company said its next phase would focus particularly on women-owned and women-led businesses through GuaranteeHer, its gender-responsive credit guarantee product.
GuaranteeHer aims to mobilise more than ₦100 billion in financing for over 20,000 women-owned businesses within five years, with an ambition to support 150,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Okhaimo said the initiative was designed to give women entrepreneurs better access to capital rather than charity.
With an initial capital base of ₦100 billion, NCGC said it had deployed only a portion of its capital as guarantee cover, leaving room to expand its interventions and mobilise additional private-sector financing into productive economic activities.
NCGC commenced operations on July 1, 2025, as a Federal Government-backed credit guarantee institution established to expand access to finance for eligible businesses, MSMEs and consumers through partial credit guarantees, co-guarantees and technical assistance.
