The Senate has invited the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele over the apex bank’s Intervention Funding Programmes to qualified Nigerian companies and exporters.
The upper legislative chamber also urged the apex bank to consider implementing expeditiously, the approvals and disbursement of intervention facilities to those companies in the real sector that merit such facilities.
The resolution followed a motion by Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP, Abia North), who maintained that Nigeria’s drive to haul the economy out of recession, will fail if qualified companies do not access the CBN facilities.
To this end, the legislative body invited the CBN Governor to address it on the progress so far made through the use of its various intervention faculty programmes (including the list of beneficiary companies, factories, exporters etc.) in assisting the sustainable growth of the real sector of the economy and as an instrument for getting out of the nation’s economic recession.
According to the lawmaker, the intervention programmes were launched in realisation that they were “sure ways” of fighting economic recession through “funding sustainable growth of existing industries of existing industries – some of them inactive”.
He added that the apex bank, based on Section 31 of the CBN Act, 2007, introduced several intervention funds, including N235 billion fund for manufacturing, refinancing and restructuring facilities of bank loans; N500 billion debenture stock – with N200 billion set aside for refinancing/restructuring of SMEs/manufacturing portfolios, and N300 billion for power/airline projects.
He also mentioned a non-oil N500 billion low interest export stimulation facilities (ESF) also introduced to complement the already existing N300 billion real sector support facility (RSSF) established in December 2014 to further assist the sustainable growth of the economy.
He said the CBN had encouraged Nigerian companies and exporters to access the facilities through development finance institutions like Bank of Industry, NEXIM Bank and other direct applications from commercial banks.
On his part, Abubakar Yusuf called for proper monitoring of the fund to avoid misuse, even as Jibrin Barau pointed out that: “We are in a serious economic situation, we need a triangulated approach. The interest rate is very high, that is why the CBN brought the bodies of intervention but there is a problem in funding.”
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who presided over plenary, said: “The interest rate is high and we must provide the intervention bodies with money. It is also important to review the issue of minimum wage”.
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