FG Tasks Digital Invoicing Committee on Affordable Working Capital

Dike Onwuamaeze The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, has tasked members of the newly inaugurated steering committee of the National Digital Invoicing and Financial Optimisation Strategy (NDIFS) to ensure that the national receivables-finance corridor is converted into transparent, regulated and affordable working capital for exporters, manufacturers, agro-processors and other stakeholders. The inauguration of the steering committee, which is co-chaired by the Chairman of EnterpriseNGR, Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede and the Executive Chairman, Nigeria Revenue Service, Dr. Zaach Adedeji, is in pursuant of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval the NDIFS and authorisation of the constitution of this committee. Speaking on Thursday during the inaugural meeting of the NDIFS’ steering committee in Abuja with the theme ‘From Digital Invoice to Productive Capital: Financing Nigeria’s Next Phase of Growth’, Oduwole explained that the importance attached to the work of the committee is to save Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) cash constraints that could hamper their capacity to produce and export their products and services. She said, “For many SMEs, the constraint is cash conversion. And when cash is trapped in receivables, production slows, inventories tighten, suppliers weaken, and export opportunities are lost. “If NDIFS ends with cleaner invoices but leaves productive businesses cash-starved, we will simply have digitised compliance without transforming enterprise. “I would like us to be ambitious and practical. Our vision should be a national receivables-finance corridor through which verified invoices from exporters, manufacturers, agro-processors, FMCG value chains and eligible public-sector counterparties can be converted into transparent, regulated and affordable working capital.” Oduwole, therefore, tasked the committee on disciplined execution of the strategy. She sadded, “This committee has a sound architecture with six integrated pillars and a phased implementation roadmap. Our task is to make execution equally disciplined. “We must benchmark our performance by how much value in verified receivables has entered the system; how much financing has actually been unlocked; how many SMEs, exporters and productive suppliers have been reached; at what cost, with what turnaround time and with what repayment performance and what has changed in inventory cycles, production, supplier resilience and export performance?” The minister said that the operation of the NDIFS would require four rails to move together. “These rails are a trusted digital rail, a sound legal rail, a financial rail and a market rail. None of these rails can operate in isolation. Trusted data without financing will not solve the liquidity problem. Financing without legal certainty will not scale. Technology without interoperability will create new silos and a national platform that does not work for the businesses expected to use it will simply reproduce old friction in digital form,” she said. Oduwole added, “As we inaugurate this committee, I would like to leave us with five disciplines. “First, design for ‘financeability’ from day one. E-invoicing must support revenue integrity and business financing, not one at the expense of the other. “Second, build interoperability, not another closed platform. Government, banks, fintechs, ERPs, identity systems and collateral infrastructure must be able to connect securely and efficiently. “Third, protect trust. Data protection, cyber security, fair pricing, transparent rules and strong governance are not peripheral issues; they are preconditions for scale. “Fourth, start with real transactions. I would like the Secretariat and relevant institutions to develop a controlled 90-day pilot pathway around selected exporters, productive value chains and anchor businesses, with measurable outcomes. “Fifth, assign every action to an owner and a date. The steering committee should be a delivery mechanism, not another broad conversation about digital transformation.”