CBN considers non-interest facility for own intervention programmes

Nigeria to earn N1b monthly from floating dock
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is to integrate non-interest window in all its intervention programmes, particularly the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) and the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) to support households as well as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) affected by the COVID-19 scourge.

The apex bank also plans to fund the value chains of nine commodities to the tune of N432 billion during this year’s wet season.

CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor and Director, Development Finance Department, Yila Yusuf, who jointly represented the Governor, Godwin Emefiele, at a stakeholders’ meeting to review the successes recorded under the ABP and the strategies for the 2020 wet season, dropped the hints yesterday in Lagos.

According to Okorafor, the creation of the credit followed appeals by concerned stakeholders for farmers to benefit from such initiative.

He added that work had been concluded on the funding document, outlining how farmers benefit from the bank’s various schemes.

On the bailout for individuals and small enterprises, Okorafor said the CBN governor had directed the Development Finance Department (DFD) of the bank as well as the NIRSAL Micro-Finance Bank (NMFB) to fast-track the loans with a view to restoring businesses and livelihoods.

In his remarks, Yusuf said over 1.1 million farmers, cultivating over one million hectares of farmland, are to benefit from the N432 billion facilities meant for the production of 8.3 million metric tons.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said the nation would make N1 billion monthly when the idle N50 billion floating dock in Lagos becomes operational soon.

The Director-General, Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, who rendered his 100-day stewardship yesterday, said his organisation was working with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to put the only floating dock in West Africa into good use.

Stakeholders had estimated that the country was losing $100 million in revenue yearly due to the comatose state of the harbour.