The Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics LTD/GTE, Dele Oye, has said that Nigeria’s over N130 trillion credit deficit is stifling the growth of 39 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across the country.

Oye, in a statement, said the widening gap between the financing needs of small businesses and the capacity of Nigeria’s financial system represents a “structural failure” in capital allocation, describing the situation as a major constraint on jobs, productivity and long-term economic growth.

He noted that despite MSMEs accounting for the bulk of businesses and a significant share of employment in Nigeria, access to formal credit remains extremely limited, forcing many operators to rely on informal fund ing sources or expensive short-term borrowing that restricts expansion.

Oye said: “Nigeria operates a network of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) whose combined total asset base is slightly above N8 trillion against a development finance requirement for MSMEs alone estimated at over N130 trillion. This is not a funding gap. It is a funding abyss.”

He added: “Let us begin with a number that should shame every policymaker, every bank board, and every development finance executive in Nigeria: fewer than one in twenty MSMEs in Africa’s largest economy have access to formal bank credit.

In a nation where micro, small, and medium enterprises account for 96 per cent of all businesses, 48 per cent of GDP, and 84 per cent of private sector employment, this is not a market imperfection. It is a structural catastrophe.

“The World Bank’s approval, in December 2025, of the $500 million to Fostering Inclusive Finance for MSMEs in Nigeria (FINCLUDE) programme, designed to mobilise $1.89 billion in private capital and extend debt financing to 250,000 enterprises, including at least 150,000 women-led businesses and 100,000 agribusinesses, is a welcome and necessary intervention.