BoI invests N1trn in nation’s industrial sector in 15 yrs

The Acting Managing Director of Bank of Industry, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, has revealed that the bank invested N1 trillion to support the nation’s industrial base in the last 15 years.

Olagunju gave the figure while appearing before the Investigative Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on Federally owned Development Financial Institutions (DFIs).

The BoI’s boss noted that the bank targeted high priority projects with developmental realities, adding ‘we have invested more than N1 trillion in the last 15 years’. He stressed the indispensability of DFIs to the nation’s economic rebirth, adding that only the banks could grant long term concessional loans on single digit interest rate.

He noted that information contained in the document submitted to the committee include company’s audited accounts that incorporates the recurrent and capital expenditure from 2002 to 2014, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention between 2010 and 2015, breakdown of loans granted by BoI between 2001 and 2016, and breakdown of different projects, among other relevant information.

The BoI boss pleaded with the lawmakers to give his team more time to assemble the additional materials needed, explaining that the management team was away on quarterly retreat when the letter demanding for the additional reports came.

Olagunju noted that the bank had maintained a clean bill of health with a current risk asset of N558 billion and 96% of its loan are performing.

The BoI boss, who gave the hint at the side-line of the Opening of Investigative Hearing of the Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on Federally owned Finance Institutions, said that 96% of the loans are performing.

He said, “Our risk assets N558 billion and 96% of this is performing. That is why our non-performance loan ratio is 3.84. So is a very healthy bank hence it boosts of high rating from international rating agencies.”