CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso
Whereas the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that about 20 deposit money banks have already met the new capital requirements under the ongoing banking recapitalization programme, the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Muhammad Abdullahi, has given insight on the real reason behind the recapitalization drive.
Speaking on Thursday on a panel at the launch of the 2026 Macroeconomic Outlook of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group in Lagos, he said CBN is shifting focus toward ensuring that stronger balance sheets translate into real sector credit growth.
In his further submission, Dr. Abdullahi noted that the recapitalisation programme was designed to build stronger banks capable of supporting Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a trillion-dollar economy.
According to him, “I think that even at the inception of the capitalisation programme, the major focus is how do we ensure that we have stronger banks that can support our drive towards a trillion-dollar economy? And the only way to get there is through the credit-review sector, to SMEs, to businesses that require funding at good rates. So as we close up towards March, I mean, the efforts have been quite impressive. We have about 20 banks that have already met it. A number of banks are meeting it every day.
“They’re huge. It’s very busy within CBN today, tomorrow, and through to March, as you can imagine.”
Before he concluded, he added however, that recapitalisation alone was not sufficient, warning that the focus must now shift from bigger balance sheets to productive and sustainable lending.
“The focus that we really are turning our attention to, especially from the financial system stability side, is that we ensure that a strengthened capital base translates into credit that is productive, that is well-targeted, and that is sustainable,” he said.
