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Says Tenure Of Facility Will Not Exceed Five Years
The Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB), yesterday, signed a $200m Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) fund deal on full implementation of the Nigerian Content intervention and to further boost oil and gas exploration in line with the 2010 Act.
Addressing participants at the ceremony in Abuja, the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, said the MOU will make available more funds to both local and foreign contractors at a reduced interest rate.
He explained that the initiative is expected to increase training and building contractors’ capacity in the oil and gas sector.
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In his remarks, Managing Director, Bank Of industry (BOI), Olukayode Pitan, said the funds will be used to increase capacity for local players, generate employment, as the loans will be based on single digits interest rate.
He said: “We have also taken into account community contractors. We can give up to N20m with interest rate not exceeding five percent, as we will put our dedicated bank staff or experts from the industry to monitor transactions. We will use professionals to handle the whole process.”
In his message, Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu, said his goal is to ensure that the funds are scaled up to $1bn in the next few years.
Dr. Ibe stated that government’s expectation is to see that this window benefits all sectors, regions across the country.
