There is need for the employers of credit professionals in the country to establish in their offices credit awareness desks for the existing and potential credit customers in their businesses in order to create awareness on creditworthiness requirements, as well as how to overcome repayment challenges.
Nigeria’s statutory body for the control, supervision, and regulation of credit management profession, the National Institute of Credit Administration, gave this advice.
Speaking with our correspondent in Lagos, the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, NICA, Prof. Chris Onalo, said this will further help to bridge the gap between the credit grantors/providers and their customers to whom they have granted creditlines and those whose applications are on cue.
He said, “There’s need for the employers of credit professionals to introduce credit awareness desks or credit counseling desks. There should be a department where credit professionals can give some hours of discussion with the credit customer applicant.”
According to the professor of credit management who has been consistently advocating for a new economy in Nigeria driven by credit system, when a credit is approved, there should be monitoring to know if the transaction is making good progress or there are challenges.
Onalo said the professional credit manager or controller should ask questions on issues like, “Do you have any problem? Do you have any difficulty? How is your business going? How prudent use of credit grows or expands a business? The consequences of a failed credit, etc.
“That interface will help to significantly educate credit customers, whether it is those that have borrowed money from financial institutions, or those who are distributors of manufactured products or good which they have collected from manufacturers on credit terms, etc. So, that desk must be there.”
As part of its duties on awareness creation, he said, as a statutory professional body with national mandate to oversee the development of credit management profession in Nigeria, NICA is expanding its awareness campaign to include all credit matters across industries in the country.
This will go a long way to smoothing the path for transitioning the economy from cash-based to credit system currently being put in place by the federal government.
