President Bola Tinubu has challenged Nigerian banks to turn the stronger balance sheets created by their recent recapitalisation into affordable credit for businesses, warning that bigger banks would have little economic value if productive sectors remain starved of finance.
Tinubu gave the warning on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, at the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Abuja. He was represented at the conference by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele.
The President said the recently concluded recapitalisation must go beyond strengthening banks’ balance sheets and translate into financing for Nigerian businesses, job creation and economic expansion.
“A bigger bank that does not finance a more productive economy is a suboptimal outcome,” Tinubu said.
He also challenged banks to rethink their preference for government securities, arguing that attractive returns on government debt had made lending to productive businesses comparatively less attractive.
“For too long, attractive returns on government securities have made lending to the productive economy comparatively less compelling,” he said.
The comments come after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recapitalisation programme, which ended on 31 March 2026. On 1 April 2026, the CBN announced that 33 banks had met the new capital requirements after raising a combined ₦4.65 trillion.
The new minimum capital requirements were set at ₦500 billion for banks with international authorisation, ₦200 billion for national banks and ₦50 billion for regional banks.
Despite the stronger banking sector, access to private-sector finance remains limited. The World Bank and International Finance Corporation reported in their Nigeria Country Private Sector Diagnostic that domestic credit to the private sector stood at 12.9% of GDP in 2024, below the 20.1% average for sub-Saharan Africa.
Tinubu said the Federal Government was expanding guarantees, risk-sharing arrangements, blended finance and credit-enhancement mechanisms to encourage lending to productive sectors. He pointed to the National Credit Guarantee Company, which was established with an initial capital of ₦100 billion, as a key part of that effort.
He urged banks to measure their success beyond balance-sheet growth, profitability and shareholder returns.
“We must increasingly ask: what is the financial system doing for the real economy?” Tinubu said.
UBA Group Managing Director Oliver Alawuba, speaking on behalf of bank chief executives, said the industry must now convert its stronger capital position into productive credit for MSMEs, agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure and exports.
Tinubu said Nigeria’s financial system must ultimately help convert economic stability into investment, production, jobs and improved living standards.
