7,000 entrepreneurs in C/river benefit from Boi’s micro-credit loans

OVER 7,000 beneficiaries in Cross River have benefitted from micro-credit loans disbursed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) under the Federal Government’s Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).

According to the Bank, the credit facilities, ranging from N50,000 to N100,000 were disbursed to entrepreneurs under one of the social intervention programmes of the Federal Government executed by BOI to facilitate easy access to interest-free loans for market women, traders, farmers, cooperatives and youths.

Boi’s Executive Director, Micro Enterprises, Mrs Toyin Adeniji, during the presentation of loan certificates to beneficiaries in the state, explained that the GEEP programme is one that touches the hands of the people and has immediate direct impact on their lives.

“It is also a micro programme, very easy to access and everyone is qualified to access once y ou are into one commercial business or the other.

“The programme is targeted at market women, artisans, youths and small holder farmers. Today, the government is giving out loans in the region of N50,000 to N100,000.

“The loans are payable over six months and they are payable in weekly instalment so that it can be easy for the beneficiaries.

“BOI has been given a task to make sure that this money gets to 1.6million beneficiaries across Nigeria and today we are all over Nigeria’’, she said.

She further said that the bank disbursed about N185million to over 3,840 beneficiaries across 105 associations in Cross River in 2017.

Earlier, the State’s Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Stella Odey, said that the initiative had engaged women and youths in the state in meaningful activities.