BoI Commits $700m to Empower 110,000 MSMEs in Northeast

The Chairman, Bank of Industry (BoI), Alhaji Aliyu Dikko, yesterday disclosed that the bank has committed $700 million (about N2.4 billion) to empower Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across six states in the North-east region.

He said the North-East Rehabilitation Fund, an initiative of the bank to mitigate the impact of insurgency in the region, had helped to reach 110,000 MSMEs.

The six North-east states currently benefiting from the bank’s intervention include Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba.

He noted that the initiative was part of strategies to reduce the level of poverty in the region, following over a decade of insurgency.

Speaking at a BoI round-table on investment in communities affected by the Boko Haram conflict, Dikko said the bank intervention fund would enable it to transform the region by supporting businesses with easily accessible zero interest loans.

He added that the fund had been tailored to meet the peculiar needs of the region as it was being fashioned under the framework of the TraderMoni initiative.

Dikko said out of the 110,000 MSMEs already enumerated, 3,500 had already received a micro credit of N10, 000 each to enable them start a sustainable business and continue with their lives after the damage and disruption caused by the insurgency.

This is as the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mr. Rachid Benmessaoud, said rebuilding lives in the North-east region required a comprehensive response involving the private sector, noting that “it is a Nigerian problem which require Nigerian solution.”