Jaiz Bank Plc, is a bank in Nigeria operating under Islamic banking principles and is a non-interest bank. It is the first non-interest bank established in Nigeria and is headquartered in Abuja, the capital city of the country. As of December 2012, the bank was a medium-sized, financial services provider in Nigeria.
Jaiz Bank’s managing director, Dr. Sirajo Salisu, revealed that the bank has provided non-Muslim micro, small, and medium-sized businesses with loan facilities totaling more over N1 billion.
He added that the bank’s profitability and financial viability had increased during the previous 10 years, and that it now had ambitions to develop by opening up five more branches.
These revelations were delivered by Sirajo Salisu at his first media appearance after becoming the bank’s MD in Abuja.
Sirajo Salisu pointed out that just because Jaiz Bank is referred to as an Islamic Bank does not mean that non-Muslims cannot enter. Such an impression, in his opinion, is unfounded.
Sirajo argued that Nigerians must be educated on the benefits of Islamic and interest-free banking.
As stated by Salisu:
“the message we want to pass across to Nigerians is that non-interest banking is pure business and a non Muslim can be a shareholders of an Islamic bank not only in Nigeria but anywhere in the world, also, a non Muslim can be a customer and staff of an Islamic bank. We at Jaiz bank, we will keep emphasizing that anywhere you hear Islamic banking, it is just business which is guided under sharia guidelines that preaches transparency and accountability. As at today, many non-muslins have benefited from our loan facility of N1 billion and above since Jaiz Bank came onboard,” he said.
The bank’s emphasis on transactional banking, he continued, occasionally results in higher profits than traditional banks.
