Africa Credit Expo 2023: Taiwo Ayedun Speaks on “Turning Nigeria’s Dead Capital Into Wealth”

At the just concluded inaugural Africa Credit Expo 2023, held at the Oriental Hotel Lagos, Nigeria, the founder of Credit Registry Mr. Taiwo Ayedun during his founder’s address spoke on the topic “Turning Nigeria’s Dead Capital Into Great Wealth”.

During his speech, he referred to unregistered assets as “dead capital”, because when the property is not registered, the owner does not have access to the capital market.

Also, he noted that without a formal title, homeowners cannot use their property as collateral for loans, which restricts them access to credit which they can use for investment or consumption.

Ayedun stated that one challenge with unregistered property is that it becomes very difficult to sell, adding that it also deters investors or improvement on the property, because it becomes a risk as investors cannot prove ownership.

To put it succinctly, Mr. Ayedun highlighted challenges involved with unregistered assets which are; access to credit, difficulty in selling the asset, property cannot be improved, diminished investment opportunities, and reduced tax revenues.

The founder of Credit Registry further estimated the value of Nigeria’s dead capital to be around 450 trillion naira. He further gave a strategic plan on how to unlock Nigeria’s dead capital by doing the following things;

Unlocking Nigeria’s Dead Capital include;

1.) Ease of home title registration: 

He stressed the need for the government to eliminate the rigorous process of registering an asset.

2.) Promotion of Lien Registry:

He talked about the government promoting a lien registry which is a centralized database system that documents and tracks information about liens placed on assets or properties.

3.) Promoting Title Insurance:

The purpose of a title insurance company is to essentially insure the bank when the bank gives a loan that is backed by a mortgage title, and also to insure the buyer.

4.) Creating mortgage liquidity:

He emphasized that this is crucial, with introducing mechanisms like mortgage-backed securities and mortgage servicing rights to infuse liquidity in the market, attracting long-term investors and enabling banks to offer more mortgages.

Mr. Ayedun concluded by stating that the dead capital in Nigeria that has been raised back to use can be used to build new homes, noting that Nigeria has a shortage of homes. He further urged the government to create friendly policies that would address the challenges of dead capital in Nigeria.