The Bank of Industry (BoI) and Kebbi Government have set up a N2 billion loan scheme to support entrepreneurship development in the state, says Acting Managing Director of BoI, Waheed Olagunju.
Olagunju announced this in a statement after he visited Kebbi Governor, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, at the weekend.
Olagunju said that the fund would be made up by contribution of N1 billion by each party, adding that the fund would be used to improve the development of MSMEs in the state.
According to him, the agricultural sub- sector will be given priority in the disbursement of the fund.
Olagunju said that the state would enjoy enormous benefits from the BoI partnership, as the bank had been able to provide attractive financial services, lending at single digit interest rate in the benefitting states.
“As a Federal Government owned agency that has the mandate to ensure balanced development across the country, we have come to you to see how we can fit into your development agenda.
We want to see how we can play an active part because you have come up with a lot of initiatives, essentially the rice project which other states are now trying to emulate.
“We believe that there is a lot more in Kebbi state and in other areas in which you have comparative advantage.
“A lot of fishing takes place here, onions are grown; so we want to see how we can come in and work with you.
“In other states where we have subsisting relationship, we have been able to lend at single digits,” Olagunju said.
He said that the bank was interested in sponsoring entrepreneurs who were into value addition, adding that Kebbi state was rich in agricultural resources that needed to be processed.
According to him, Bagudu has laid a solid foundation for permanent production in the first one and half years of his administration which has started resulting in bumper harvest.
“Unless these products are processed and value added to them, there could be a lot of post-harvest loss.
“That is why we are being proactive to ensure that we ensure we assist entrepreneurs who can help process these products from agricultural sector.
“We are looking at rice and onions and you know that onions are highly perishable so we are trying to support the entrepreneurs to go into those areas,” he added.
Olagunju said that the bank would be establishing its office in Kebbi state.
He said that the state had identified a location that would serve as the BoI office, adding that the state government would provide an office for the bank.
According to him, BoI will furnish the office, and “we will equip the office and then post our people to the place; when our office is closer to the people, we will be able to assist them better”.
Bagudu said that the visit of BoI was timely in view of the current economic recession bedevilling the country.
Bagudu said that activities of the bank had been quite noticeable in the last 10 years, adding that critical decisions were required more than ever to turn around the economic fortunes of the country.
The governor said that development finance institutions were strategic in any nation’s economy.
According to him, “its regretable that Nigerian operators were working under difficult bureaucratic processes which had hampered the rapid development of such institutions in the country”.
Bagudu assured that the state government would support the course of elevating the discourse to support development financing among policy makers.
“About N3 trillion is required annually to develop agriculture in the country and farmers in Kebbi state alone need N200 billion.
“Nigeria is on a slippery slope if the country does not produce anything,”Bugudu said
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