Farmers get N948b, SMEs and households N368.79b
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A total 4,478,381 smallholder farmers who received N948 billion loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have cultivated 5.2 million hectares of farmland across the country and created 12.5 million direct and indirect jobs.
The CBN has also disbursed N368.79 billion to over 778,000 comprising 648,052 households and about 130,000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), according to CBN Corporate Communications Director Osita Nwanisobi.
He disclosed at the 43rd Kaduna International Trade Fair that the CBN has led policy and financing support to about 40 interventions through development finance initiatives, such as
- Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF)
- MSME Development Fund
- Agribusiness/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS);
- Non-oil Export Stimulation Facility (NESF)
- Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP)
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28 firms get N23.2b CBN loan through PPP
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CBN projects 3.2% economic growth, World Bank 2.5%
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Purpose of TIES
Osita, represented by his Deputy Director Sam Okogue, enthused that the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES) will unleash the potential of graduate entreprenurs (gradpreneurs) by providing re-orientation, training, and innovative financing model that will enhance entrepreneurship, as reported by The Nation.
Said he: “The broad objective of the 100 for 100 policy on production and productivity (PPP) is to boost production and productivity, necessary to transform and jumpstart the productive base of the Nigerian economy.
“It is also expected that the initiative will reverse the nations’s over-reliance on imports, by creating an ecosystem that targets and support the right companies and projects with potentials to immediately transform and kick-start the productive base of the economy.
“About N23.20 billion has been disbursed to the first set of 28 beneficiaries comprising 14 in the manufacturing sector, 12 in the agricultural sector and two in the healthcare sector.
“It is expected when fully operational, the first set of the scheme which commenced in November 2021, will create over twenty thousand direct and indirect jobs across multiple sectors of the economy.”
Osita stressed that the economy will enjoy greater global competitiveness when all hands key into the various initiatives of the CBN.
He gave an assurance that the CBN under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele will continue to focus on people, raise confidence in the economy, and facilitate better living standards.