According to Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, an assistant pastor led the charge in establishing Islamic banks in Nigeria.

Cardoso revealed this last weekend at an Abuja ceremony held in celebration of Dr Umar Oseni, the secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Arbitration Centre.

He claimed that Nigerians now understood that the goal of establishing Islamic banks in the nation was to support small and medium-sized enterprises rather than to Islamize the country.

Speaking through Kofo Salam-Alada, the CBN Director of Legal Services, Cardoso stated that additional Sharia-compliant banks are being evaluated for licencing because of the significant advantages they have provided to the populace.

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He mentioned how Islamic banks have withstood the test of time since their establishment to include Jaiz, Tajj, and Alternate Bank.

“Some years back, the Central Bank of Nigeria started a journey for the introduction of the Islamic Banking and Financing in Nigeria.

“It came when a young man was appointed governor of CBN. But most people never knew that the first person who spearheaded the journey was to be a pastor of the church.

“He was also a part-time pastor when this journey started. So it was never an attempt to Islamise Nigeria or Islamise financing in Nigeria. When the Prince (Emir Sanusi) came, he continued the journey”, he stated.

Recall that Chukwuma Soludo served as the highest bank governor of Nigeria when Jaiz, the country’s first Islamic bank, was founded.

Based on the latest update of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s list of licenced banks, there are four Islamic banks out of 43 Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria.

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