We Don’t Need Keke Gifts, We Need Credit Access: A Call to Igbo Billionaires

A certain wealthy man once said to my hearing that he pities the youth of this generation. According to him, it was more easier to make money during their time than now.

I have shared on this space how African Continental Bank and Union Bank contributed immensely to the growth of Nkwo Nnewi through their credit system. Which during a certain window was without collateral.

Today, many of our people give kudos to the hustling spirit of our fathers after the war without zeroing the role banks played in that dash of entrepreneurial sprint that turned Nnewi into a commercial hub immediately after the war.

As of today, it is difficult for any sane youth to access credit from the banks. Earlier this year, I called up one of the commercial banks to find out their interest rate. It was forty two percent.

Now, compare this to the one digit interest rate our fathers got.

The only Bank currently close to one digit interest rate in Nigeria is the Bank of Industry. Their interest rate is around thirteen percent.

However, to get their credit you must have a fixed asset. And the fixed asset must be located in a state capital.

Pray, tell me, how can a fledging youth from an average Igbo family burning with ideas, resident in the East, access BOI facility with this kind of requirement?

On Sunday, I made a post about about two Igbo billionaires, many youths came for my neck.

I am not sure my fellow youths really appreciate what we are up against in respect to our economic survival. If we truly do, we all will be burning with righteous anger towards any form of exhibitionism in this austere moment.

I am not sure most of our youths fully appreciate the fact that our billionaires had and still have easy access to loan facilities. Their ability to do businesses that fund their lifestyle is by having the requirements to draw loans from banks.

Last year, Allen Onyema gave credit to Fidelity Bank for trusting and giving him credit that helped to give Air Peace the much needed lifeline.

Ask yourself as a youth resident in Ala Igbo, if any of these banks can bankroll your dreams and ideas? What are your chances of growth as an entrepreneur without access to good credit?

World over, it is family and friends, kith and kin, your kind, that take risks on young people with fresh ideas not banks or the government.

It is on this premise I believe that the job of Igbo billionaires who have made it is to see how they can help Igbo youths coming after them, taking cognisance of the fact that the kind of opportunity available to them in their youthful days are no longer available.

We do not need Keke na Pep from our billionaires neither do we need motivational speeches. What we need from them is to help ensure we have the kind of opportunities and access they had to good credit system as start ups.

With all the billionaires we have in Ala Igbo, why can’t we have an Igbo bank that finances Igbo youths with ideas? This Igbo bank, like Jaiz Bank, will have a low interest rate.

As of our State Governments in the East, the best way to solve the problem of unemployment in the East is to see how young Ndi Igbo with ideas access favourable credit facilities.

Sustainable development in the East is elusive without healthy credit facility.

Writer: Nze Tobe Osigwe (Ezeikolomuo)