The six states in the North-East geo-political zone of Nigeria will receive a N2.4 billion grant from the Bank of Industry (BoI). The BoI is giving out the grant to support the growth of 110,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the region.
A move to aid development: This move was taken to alleviate the growing spate of poverty, attributable to the continual strain of insurgency in the region. The Chairman of the bank, Aliyu Dikko at a roundtable discussion on investment added that the intervention fund was expected to develop the region.
Dikko also disclosed that this intervention would help the bank support businesses in the region with zero-interest loans. The funds are expected to be disbursed through the framework of TraderMoni initiative.
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Following the human, social and economic losses to the insurgency, Dikko noted these investments were needed for recovery, peacebuilding and reconstruction of the North-East. Most of the losses caused the region to suffer an estimated output loss of N1.66 trillion, coupled with significant inflation.
“Given our mandate to stimulate economic growth and sustainable industrial development, Bank of Industry has embarked on an economic revival plan for the North-East region. Our objective is to stem the spate of poverty and reduce the reliance of the indigenes on humanitarian aid. In the last four years, the bank has provided financial support amounting to N678 billion to over two million enterprises across the country, creating over five million jobs. A major part of these jobs was created using the TraderMoni model which is a Federal Government scheme targeted at micro-businesses particularly petty traders,” the BoI boss said.
A Nairametrics report revealed that the Bank of Industry (BoI) disbursed a total of N259.6 billion to support Nigeria’s industrialisation between January and December 2018. The N259.6 billion represents an increase of 130% when compared to the N112.5 billion credit facility the bank provided to businesses in the 2017 financial period.
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