Islamic Financial Expert Suggests Islamic Financing To End Nigeria’s Financial Exclusion

By AjayiSodiq

Prof. Abdur-Razzaq Abdul-Majeed Alaro, a specialist in Islamic banking and finance law, believes that expansion financing could help Nigeria and Africa address the issue of financial exclusion among their populations.

Alaro, speaking at the 1Oth anniversary of the Islamic Crescent Cooperative Society (Iccs) Ltd in Abuja yesterday, stated that studies had proven that financial exclusion affected Muslims all over the world significantly.

He stated that this is due to mainstream banks engaging in transactions that are prohibited in Islam, leaving Muslim clients with no other options.

While acknowledging that the trend is changing due to the presence of Islamic cooperatives, banks, and microfinance institutions, he stated that more work remains to be done to attract more people into the banking sector.

“More than 90 per cent of products and services that are available in banks are telling you to do what Allah forbids you from doing. You must key into the riba or interest-based transaction if you want a banking product. That is a no-go area for Muslims. However, today this problem has been solved to a large extent by the availability of banking services, cooperative services, and microfinance services that are all shariah compliant. So, this is what we call financial inclusion.”

While acknowledging that Islamic cooperatives have fulfilled the objective for financial inclusion, he stated that they must expand into MSMEs funding to avoid stagnation.

Earlier, Shefi’u Kolawole Gbadamosi, Executive Chairman of Iccs, stated that the cooperative was founded to assist its members and business owners in achieving their personal and commercial goals without jeopardizing their religious beliefs.

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