The Federal Government has unveiled a USSD-based client credit service that can allow Nigerians to entry loans utilizing fundamental cell phones with out web connectivity or smartphones.
The service, SPARK, was launched by the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP) to broaden entry to inexpensive client loans, significantly for first-time debtors with restricted or no formal credit historical past.
The platform is designed to assist Nigerians finance important items, household gear, and productive property; enhance their high quality of life; and repay over an agreed interval, whereas stimulating demand for regionally produced items and supporting companies.
CREDICORP’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Uzoma Nwagba, disclosed this in a publish on X following the pilot unveiling of SPARK on the inaugural CREDICORP for All occasion in Aba, Abia State, on Friday.
The company unveiled ‘*347*333#’ because the USSD code for accessing SPARK, with wider availability anticipated earlier than the top of 2026.
As of 31 October, CREDICORP mentioned 353,561 Nigerians had accessed credit via its programmes, with over N61.40 billion disbursed.
SPARK’s goal
Mr Nwagba mentioned the initiative was geared toward serving to Nigerians entry items and companies required to enhance their each day lives, help their livelihoods and develop their companies.
“From mobility and solar energy to digital devices, home improvements, life essentials and household needs, credit is helping Nigerians access what they need to live, work and grow,” Mr Nwagba mentioned.
Explaining the rationale behind the initiative, Mr Nwagba mentioned President Bola Tinubu’s imaginative and prescient for client credit was to allow working Nigerians to enhance their residing requirements with out having to pay the complete value of important purchases upfront.
“Mr President’s imaginative and prescient for client credit is easy: each working Nigerian ought to have the ability to enhance their high quality of life in the present day and pay over time, whereas additionally empowering native enterprise by way of increased buying energy.
“It is about changing how Nigerians think about credit, and making sure they feel its impact in their everyday lives and our economy,” the CREDICORP MD mentioned.
Mr Nwagba mentioned the company had taken the initiative to go to states throughout the nation, including that its programmes have been lively in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Aba inaugural CREDICORP
He described the Aba occasion as a homecoming, saying it introduced collectively CREDICORP’s client credit merchandise and credit schooling in a single location.
According to him, greater than 1,800 residents of Abia State benefited straight from the inaugural occasion, accessing autos, commerce stock, digital units and important items via credit services offered by collaborating monetary establishments.
The occasion additionally showcased different CREDICORP programmes focusing on totally different classes of Nigerians.
Under the Securing Consumer Access for Local Enterprises (S.C.A.L.E.) initiative, transport operators acquired regionally assembled tricycles on credit to help income-generating actions.
The YouthCred programme supplies inexpensive client credit for members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), employed younger Nigerians and younger entrepreneurs.
The company additionally expanded credit entry for market girls and merchants searching for financing to buy commerce stock.
Mr Nwagba mentioned CREDICORP returned to merchants at Ariaria Market, the place it started its market-focused intervention in June 2025, to increase credit entry to extra merchants and markets.
READ ALSO: FGN’s CREDICORP showcases consumer credit access for over 1,000 Abians, pilots SPARK
He added that collaborating monetary establishments registered staff, merchants and transport operators for credit services through the occasion.
SPARK operations
SPARK is designed to make client credit accessible to Nigerians who could not personal smartphones or have web connectivity.
Through the USSD-based platform, eligible debtors, significantly first-time candidates, can entry credit and start constructing formal compensation histories. These information may subsequently strengthen their credit profiles and enhance their possibilities of accessing further monetary companies.
However, SPARK is a credit facility, not a grant. Borrowers shall be required to repay loans based on the phrases agreed with collaborating monetary establishments.
Mr Nwagba mentioned the company had supported 36 monetary establishments to broaden client lending and stimulated seven native industries via credit-backed demand.
According to him, CREDICORP had recorded zero non-performing loans throughout its wholesale lending portfolio.
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