BoI Disbursed N19.7bn To 3,000 Enterprises In South-West

The Bank of Industry has said it disbursed N19.7bn to over 3,000 enterprises in the South-West in the past three years from its own funds.

The Managing Director, BoI, Mr Olukayode Pitan, said this during the official opening of the Ekiti branch office of the bank in Ado-Ekiti, according to a statement.

Pitan, who was represented by the Executive Director, Corporate Services, Jonathan Tobin, said through the bank’s matching fund partnership with Ekiti State, which was signed in March 2010, with a total fund size of N200m, it had been able to create loans worth N167m with thousands of direct and indirect jobs created in the process.

He said, “The objective of this initiative is to partner with state governments towards supporting micro, small and medium enterprises in such states, by each party setting aside equal amounts of funds.

“The Bank of Industry has a long-standing relationship with Ekiti State, as the state is one of our earliest strategic partners with respect to our matching fund initiative.”

The Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, urged the BoI to partner with the state to move farmers from subsistence farming to commercial and agro-processing levels.

He also called on the bank to explore the knowledge economy, which he described as one of the pillars of his administration, for investment.

He said the state had demonstrated its commitment to ease of doing business, adding, “Our vision is to make Ekiti a destination of choice for investment by providing an enabling environment to Small and Medium-scale Enterprises.”

Also speaking at the occasion, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, said that the BoI had done significantly well in supporting the industrialisation strategy of the Federal Government across various sectors and business segments in Nigeria.