Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has said Nigeria’s National Digital Invoicing and Financial Optimisation Strategy (NDIFS) must extend beyond improving tax compliance and help unlock affordable working capital for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), manufacturers, exporters and other productive businesses.

Oduwole made the remarks in Abuja at the inaugural meeting of the NDIFS Steering Committee, where she said the initiative should establish a national receivables-finance corridor capable of converting verified invoices into transparent, regulated and affordable working capital.

According to the minister, many micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) face financial constraints not because of a shortage of business opportunities, but because funds remain tied up in receivables.

She explained that prolonged delays in converting invoices into cash could slow production, tighten inventories, weaken suppliers and lead to lost export opportunities.

The proposed receivables-finance corridor, she said, should accommodate verified invoices generated by exporters, manufacturers, agro-processors, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) value chains and eligible public-sector counterparties.

Oduwole outlined four critical components required to make the system work: a trusted digital rail, a sound legal framework, a financing rail and a functioning market rail.

She said the digital rail would provide authentic invoices, validated transaction data and interoperable systems. The legal framework, meanwhile, would provide certainty around assignment, enforceability, priority and collateral architecture.

She said this should include alignment with the Factoring, Assignments and Receivables Financing Bill and the National Collateral Registry.

The financing component would connect banks, development finance institutions, fintechs, insurers and guarantors, while capital-market investors could provide additional liquidity and risk-sharing as the system develops.

The market rail, she added, would be driven by Nigerian enterprises, exporters, anchor buyers and supplier networks generating the receivables that the financing system would support.

Oduwole stressed that all four components must be developed simultaneously.

“Trusted data without financing would not resolve the liquidity challenge, while financing without legal certainty would be difficult to scale,” she said.

She further warned that technology without interoperability could create new silos, while a national platform that failed to work for businesses could simply reproduce existing inefficiencies in digital form.

According to the minister, the committee’s performance should be assessed using indicators such as the volume of verified receivables entering the system, the amount of financing unlocked, the number of MSMEs, exporters and productive suppliers reached, financing costs, turnaround time and repayment performance.

She identified five key disciplines for the committee, starting with the need to design the e-invoicing system for financeability from inception.

Oduwole said e-invoicing should serve both revenue integrity and business financing, rather than prioritising one objective at the expense of the other.

She also called for interoperability between government systems, banks, fintechs, enterprise resource planning platforms, identity systems and collateral infrastructure.

Data protection, cybersecurity, fair pricing, transparent rules and strong governance, she said, must remain central to maintaining trust in the system.

Oduwole directed the secretariat and relevant institutions to develop a controlled 90-day pilot involving selected exporters, productive value chains and anchor businesses, with measurable outcomes.

She said the committee’s terms of reference require it to advise on strategic direction and sequencing, review the implementation roadmap, identify policy and regulatory measures, promote institutional alignment, manage delivery risks and support stakeholder engagement.

The pilot, she added, must be measurable from inception through indicators including the value of receivables verified, value financed, number of businesses reached, cost of finance, turnaround time and overall impact.

Source: The Guardian