Bank Of Industry To Commit 85% Resources To Funding SMEs   
 By Toba Agboola

6th Dec 2007

The Managing Director of Bank of Industry, Ms Evelyn Oputu, has disclosed that under a new paradigm shift, the bank is to commit 85 per cent of its resources in support of small and medium scale entrepreneurs. The bank, she said, has approved N30 billion credit to 300 projects across the country.

Evelyn Oputu, MD, Bank of Industry

She spoke at a workshop on small and medium scale entrepreneurial development and capacity building organised by the Benue State Government in collaboration with the bank’s branch in Makurdi.
Ms Oputu said the bank’s decision was anchored on the recognition of small and medium enterprises as the engine of economic growth coupled with their higher developmental impact and multiplier effects per unit of investment.

According to the her, the impact of this new paradigm shift is beginning to yield the desired effect on the various sectors of the economy. Ms Oputu lamented however, that Benue State accounted for only about N25 million of the said amount in terms of benefit. She noted that the amount was too small given the enormous natural resources in the state.

"Benue State is blessed with vast arable land suitable for agriculture and hard working and able-bodied people, hence the need for the preponderance of agro-allied/processing industries in the state to take advantage of the huge agricultural potential here," Ms Oputu stated.

She listed reduction in the cost of land documentation and mortgages, commitment to the development of industrial parks, creation of macro economic environment, inclusion of entrepreneurship development in school curricula, investment in independent power plant, as well as spear heading the formation of a regional SME integration centre in the North Central Region as measures through which the state could reverse the present situation for the better.

The Benue State Governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, expressed the willingness of his administration to encourage indigenes to take centre stage in the Nigerian project. "It is the desire of our government to encourage our people to become active participants in the national economy in order to be at the centre of the Nigerian project," he stated.

According to the Suswan, his administration would achieve the feat through entrepreneurial education. He appealed to the business community in the state to avail itself of what he described as a unique opportunity by putting into practical use the knowledge and experience gained to give the business sector in the state a new lease of life.

Source: the Nation

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