Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has called for the country’s National Digital Invoicing and Financial Optimisation Strategy (NDIFS) to deliver more than improved tax compliance, saying the initiative must help businesses unlock affordable working capital. Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the NDIFS Steering Committee in Abuja, Oduwole said the system should create a national receivables-finance corridor where verified invoices can be converted into transparent and regulated financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), manufacturers, exporters and other productive businesses.

According to the minister, many businesses are not struggling because of a lack of opportunities but because money owed to them remains trapped in unpaid receivables. She warned that delays in turning invoices into cash can disrupt production, reduce inventories, put pressure on suppliers and cause businesses to miss export opportunities. The proposed financing corridor would cover verified invoices from exporters, manufacturers, agro-processors, fast-moving consumer goods companies and eligible public-sector counterparties.

Oduwole outlined four key components needed to make the system work: a trusted digital rail, a strong legal framework, a financing rail and a functioning market rail. The digital infrastructure would provide authentic invoices and validated transaction data, while the legal framework would create certainty around invoice assignment, enforceability, priority and collateral. She also called for alignment with the Factoring, Assignments and Receivables Financing Bill and the National Collateral Registry to strengthen the system.

The financing rail would bring banks, development finance institutions, fintechs, insurers and guarantors into the ecosystem, with capital-market investors potentially providing additional liquidity as the market develops. Oduwole stressed that all four components must advance together, noting that reliable data without financing would not solve businesses’ liquidity problems, while financing without legal certainty would be difficult to scale. She also emphasised interoperability between government systems, financial institutions, fintechs, enterprise resource planning platforms, identity systems and collateral infrastructure, alongside strong data protection and cybersecurity measures.

The minister has directed the NDIFS secretariat and relevant institutions to develop a controlled 90-day pilot involving selected exporters, productive value chains and anchor businesses. The pilot will measure the value of verified receivables, financing unlocked, businesses reached, cost of finance, turnaround time and repayment performance. The initiative, she said, should ultimately ensure that e-invoicing serves both revenue integrity and business financing, potentially giving Nigerian businesses faster access to cash tied up in receivables.

source: The guardian