The Managing Director of Heritage Bank Plc, Ifie Sekibo, has charged governments in the country to provide enabling policies that would support private sector interventions in critical infrastructure investments for sustainable growth of the economy.
Sekibo made the appeal during the just ended Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria’s (FICAN) 30th Anniversary conference and awards with the theme ‘Financing Infrastructure & SMEs for inclusive growth in the post-COVID-19 economy’ in Lagos.
The bank’s CEO, who was represented by Olusegun Akanji, Divisional Head, Strategy and Business Solutions, argued that the government cannot solve the country’s infrastructure challenges, noting that it is the private sector that will deliver the solution.
According to him, the government can only provide enabling policies that will support private sector interventions.
“We need the global private sector intervention to help us achieve a vision of infrastructural development,” he said.
Sekibo noted that until the country developed an identity management system that delivers value to the citizenry, SMEs will continue to grapple with financing challenges.
The seasoned banker explained that though the banking industry has financed a lot of SMEs in terms of count, that it is the sector that has the largest numbers of bad loans and frauds in terms of count.
At the conference, the bank carted away two Platinum Awards presented to both the Managing Director and Heritage Bank for outstanding support towards FICAN and Financial Reporting, respectively.
