The Bank of Industry (BoI) has said it is committed to consolidating its regional intervention strategy through the creation of many more state offices to improve customers’ accessibility to its services and boost industrialisation across the states.
The bank said the expansion of its regional intervention would see the bank commissioning additional seven state offices in different regions in a bid to consolidate its re-engineering efforts while improving service delivery efficiency.
Rasheed Olaoluwa, managing director/CEO, BoI, while speaking during the commissioning of the bank’s state office in Ibadan, Oyo State, said the bank, having received approval for the expansion of its operations in 2014, was expanding its framework and reach to seven states including Anambra, Port-Harcourt, Oyo, Osogbo, among others.
Oyo State is very crucial to BoI’s strategy of ensuring that our development finance services are brought closer to the people of the state, especially in our bid to vastly improve our service delivery efficiency, while also reaching out to all parts of the entire South-West region, Olaoluwa said.
The bank hopes to increase its reach and penetrate many industrial firms through the recently unveiled Cottage Agro-Processors (CAP) Fund to support the establishment of cottage agro processing plants and firms involved in agro-allied businesses.
He also noted that the bank, till March 31, 2015, had provided loans in excess of N18 billion to industrialise the South-West geopolitical zone of the country.
The amount, according to him, covered states like Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, while Lagos State was also specially taken care of in the bank’s industrialisation efforts at growing entrepreneurship ventures across the 36 states of the federation.
Of the N18 billion, Olaoluwa said over 80 firms and micro enterprises spread across Oyo State as of March this year had been given over N10 billion.
“Oyo State is very crucial to BoI’s strategy of ensuring that our development finance services are brought closer to the people of the State especially in our bid to vastly improve our service delivery efficiency, while also reaching out to all parts of the entire South West Region,” BoI helmsman said.
According to him, Oyo State government had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BoI in 2012, which culminated in the establishment of the OYSG/BOI Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Matching Fund Scheme to the tune of N1 billion.
“To date, the bank has recorded a total loan approval of N375 million in respect of 68 enterprises. Of this amount, a total of N225 million had been disbursed to 35 enterprises. Additional disbursements to 17 other enterprises in the sum of N104 million is currently being processed while some of the new beneficiaries have been presented with cheques amounting to N124.17 million”, he added.
On his part, Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who was represented by his Moses Alake Adeyemo, deputy governor, expressed optimism that the new BoI’s regional and state offices would deepen the bank’s developmental impact in the five states comprising Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Kwara states that it is out to serve.
Ajimobi noted that no nation could ever prosper without putting the natural resources at its disposal into effective use through secondary production, adding that the state government is committed to providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
ODINAKA ANUDU
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