Human resource management for sustainable microfinance institutions in Nigeria

Abstract

Microfinancing in Nigeria has developed from the traditional informal groups through direct government intervention to domination by private sector owned and managed institutions. Despite its long history, the sector has not witnessed the existence of sustainable institutions. This prompted the Obasanjo regime to adopt a more formal policy to improve the sector. Various reasons have contributed to the un-sustainability of microfinance institutions in the country. But the human resource factor is considered significant among all these. Using a historical and content analysis methods, this paper undertakes to examine the effect of poor human resource management generally on organizations and more specifically on the development of microfinance institutions in Nigeria. The paper analyzes some of the provisions of the Microfinance Policy, Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Nigeria (2005) to explain in simple terms the human resource implications of some of the roles stipulated for key stakeholders of the microfinance institutions. The paper discovers that some of the factors that have affected the sustainability of microfniance institutions in Nigeria include poor skills development and lack of business initiative among the potential clients of the institutions, poor staff development, utilization and compensation in the institutions themselves and ineffective supervision and control of operators by the regulatory authorities. It is therefore, recommended among others actions that sustainability in the sector should preeminently concentrate efforts in capacity building of the poor, improvement of supervision and regulation by monetary authorities and ensuring proper employee development, utilization and compensation. These recommended actions must be collaborated by the key stakeholders whose roles were analyzed.