Microfinance institutions yesterday said they have boosted the national economy with about N185 billion savings. They said they had rescued no fewer than 100,000 Nigerians from poverty through linkage to finances, sensitisation, capacity building and networking.

President, Association of Non-Bank Microfinance Institutions of Nigeria (ANMFIN), Hamid G. Afolabi who spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, said the group is marching into the hinterlands with its services.

Afolabi spoke on the "occasion of corporate governance and ANMFIN inclusion exchange." Said Giwa: "As we march towards expanding outreach to rural areas, the subsector is still bedeviled with regulatory bottlenecks; many of our non-governmental organisations that want to engage in providing microfinance credit to their target audience cannot because of legal impediments.

"Also, the Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Development Funds set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase access has largely remained inaccessible due to collateral requirements. "However, we are confident in the consistent support that we have received from Rural Finance Institution Building Prgramme (RUFIN) and the CBN with regard to the review of these provisions that militate against efficient delivery of the financial inclusion agenda to the rural areas."

ANMFIN president said the group has weathered the storm because the association is currently working with over 3,000 informal savings to be linked to microfinance banks in the Northwest. This feat, he said the group will replicate across the country with Kwara State.

"ANMFIN is aware of efforts of the Kwara State government to ensure the state's inclusion by setting up the state Micro Credit Intervention Scheme in collaboration with 14 micro finance banks across the state," he said. He urged micro finance practitioners to partner together, saying with that the group could do more and achieve more.

He said: "This inclusion exchange provides us the opportunity to look beyond our fears and perceptions. It is time for us to forge a common front and I welcome you on board.

"If the recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on the employment and underemployment of our people is anything to go by; history will not be kind to us if we wallow in the dungeon of fear and negative perceptions and limit access to loan-able funds to micro finance institutions."