Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri
Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) should champion the rebuilding of
troubled Borno State, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of
Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Mr. Tony Okpanachi has said.
The
decade long Boko Haram crisis has left Borno State, the epicentre of the
crisis, in need of
several billions of Naira for reconstruction,
rehabilitation and relocation.
Speaking
at the maiden MSME Summit organised by Development Bank of Nigeria in
Maiduguri, during the week, Okpanachi said: “Before the outbreak of
insurgency, over a decade ago, Borno State had a reputation as one of
the thriving nerve centers of the North-East, owing to the strength of
its commercial, trading and export potential. It was truly an ecosystem
where MSMEs thrived.”
He noted
that regardless of challenges, the administration through their
10-Point Agenda that include growing the economy and entrepreneurship
would, in conjunction with the Development Bank of Nigeria, go to great
lengths to ensure that the rebuilding process continued with MSMEs at
the fore.
Okpanachi
said as part of DBN’s mandate of providing sustainable financing,
Maiduguri was chosen as a veritable location to host the first ever DBN
MSME Summit, which was a direct response to the layers of exclusion
occasioned by insurgency.
The Bank
Chief Executive, while admitting that it is “a new dawn for MSMEs in
Nigeria,” said it was equally: “A new dawn for economic growth and
development in Borno State and for the MSMEs.”
He,
however, lamented that the major challenge faced by the MSMEs was “their
inability to structure and put together a bankable business plan which
makes banks to view them as high risk and therefore unwilling to finance
them.”
He said
DBN would put together an immediate capacity building plan that would
involve assembling a number of MSMEs in Borno State and making them go
through an extensive capacity building programme, which will equip them
with the relevant know-how and therefore make them attractive to the
bank’s Participating Financial Institutions.
He said
the bank’s team would need the support of the relevant ministry to make
this a huge success, stressing that this initiative had worked in other
parts of the country and that it was strongly believed that it would
work in Borno too.
He said:
“We shall work with the State Borno Renaissance Micro Finance Bank
(when it becomes fully operational) to explore the possibility of
providing wholesale lending to them for MSMEs in Borno State.”
He
disclosed: “In the current year, we have disbursed over N100 Billion to
over 95,000 MSMEs cutting across various sectors of the economy.
Additionally, 70% of loans were to women-owned/managed businesses and
51% so far are youth owned businesses. Here in the Northeast region of
the country, our disbursement has been relatively low I must admit. In
the last two years, we have disbursed N300 million to about 1,000
MSMEs.
“Now, we
are here in Maiduguri and hopes to continue to strengthen and deepen
our reach in this part of the country in order to ensure no community is
left behind.”
Also
speaking at the Summit, the governor of Borno State, Babagana Umara, who
was represented by his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Babagana Wakil, said it
was instructive and encouraging for the bank to have its maiden MSMEs
Summit in Maiduguri where many are still afraid to travel to.
He said
the state government was ready to work with the bank to achieve its
objectives and bring succour to the people of the state.
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