Managing Director of the ECOWAS Bank, Bashiru Mammon-ifo, on Wednesday, announced that a grant of $100 million loan has been approved to the Katsina State Chamber of Commerce.
Mammon – Ifo who spoke at the Katsina State Economic and Investment summit on Wednesday, said the purpose for approving this grant was to boost the agricultural sector in Katsina State.
The ECOWAS Bank Chief however noted that the bank will outrightly approve the grant once Katsina State Chamber of Commerce applies for it, and the State Government stands as guarantor to the loan.
“The bank will grant the loan to the Chamber if an application for the loan is forwarded to the bank.
“The state government should spearhead the demand for the loan for the State Chamber of Commerce so that the state can benefit from the loan.
“The state government should assist the Chamber to establish guarantee farms as one of the condition of getting the loan.
“The Katsina Government should also volunteer to serve as a guarantor to the Chamber to enable them secure the loan from the bank,”
In a quick response to Mammon-ifo`s statement, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Kastina State said that the state government would organize a meeting between all parties involved to further discuss and facilitate the issuance of the loan to the business communities in the state.
According to Masari, “I will like to assure the ECOWAS Bank that our businessmen are ever willing to access the loan to boost the agricultural sector,”
The Katsina State Economic and Investment summit was conceived as a platform to showcase the state’s natural economic features to the outside world as well as to attract investors into the state.
