Our Funding Covers Over 10,000 Buildings, Others – Jaiz Bank
BY COBHAM NSA – Nigeria’s premier non-interest financial institution, Jaiz Bank Plc says its financing portfolio has so far covered over 10,000 units of houses in the country since the bank officially commenced business in 2012.
According to the Bank’s Executive Director, North, Dr Sirajo Salisu, there has been robust partnership with different developers in delivering services to customers across various sectors in the country.
Dr Salisu, who unveiled the institution’s impressive records at the 5th African International Conference on Islamic Finance in Abuja, also said contrary to many perceptions in some quarters, Islamic finance is really touching and impacting many lives in remarkable and practical ways.
Reeling out the Bank’s funding interventions, Dr Salisu said from inception, there have been fundings of large-scale projects worth billions of Naira for about 20 customers as well as financing involvement amounting to billions of Naira in areas of agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), oil and gas.
He stated that the area of youth empowerment has seen Jaiz Bank providing thousands of opportunities to young people in the transportation, telecommunications, and agriculture sectors, saying; “Islamic Finance is really touching lives, but a lot of people are unaware of that.”
On financial inclusion, Salisu said the Bank decided to go into the rural areas to touch the lives of many women and bring them into the financial sector, while also facilitating financial interventions by the Federal Government on empowerment and poverty eradication.
In his comments, a non-Executive Director of Jaiz Bank Plc, Dr. Abdullateef Bello, who chaired the conference session on “The African Islamic Finance Experience; Lessons From Nigeria”, highlighted the need for constant engagement and awareness creation on Islamic Finance in order to grow the sector.
Commending the event organisers for doing a great job, Dr Bello said all the stakeholders must be ready to continuously push at tapping available opportunities in the market to grow Islamic Finance for the overall benefits of all.
Also speaking at the conference’s opening ceremony, the 14th Emir of Kano, His Highness, Muhammadu Sanusi II said the idea of introducing Islamic Finance in Nigeria by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under his watch was purely based on the need to have an alternative source of funding for the economy.
He said the initial negative sentiments on the product’s introduction were baseless as many non-Muslim countries in Europe and Asia have been benefiting from various financing options provided by Islamic Finance to grow their economies.
The Conference, with the theme: “Infrastructure Financing, Sustainability and the Future of African Markets 2.0“, aimed at building and enhancing private and public sector institutional capacity on Islamic Finance across the globe.
