CBN sets aside N2.02trn for intervention schemes

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said it has so far set aside the sum of N2.02 trillion as

intervention funds for operators in the various sectors of the Nigerian economy to access.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who was represented by the bank’s Ag Director,

Development Finance, Dr. Olaitan Adeola, disclosed this at a stakeholders’ forum titled:

“Accelerating Enterprise competitiveness and growth in Nigeria: Building capacity for

sustainable development’ in Lagos. The forum was organised by African Management

Services Company, AMSCO.

He said that from the past administration to date, policy instruments such as schemes,

guarantees, rebates, establishment of development finance institutions, DFIs, and capacity

building have been used to intervene in the nation’s economy.

Emefiele noted that CBN’s commitment under each instrument type runs into billions of 

Naira under various schemes such as Commercial Agricultural Credit Schemes, CACs 

which amounts to N200 billion, Power and Aviation Intervention Fund, PAIF, N300 billion, 

Micro Small Medium Enterprise Development Fund, MSMEDF, N220 billion, Real Sector 

Support Facility, RSSF N300 billion and Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility, 

NEMSF N213 billion through revolving credit facilities totaling N1.233 trillion.

He said other Funds set aside for operators to access include multi-pronged financing under 

NISRAL, which included risk sharing, insurance and technical assistance facilities as well as 

holistic bank rating and bank incentives mechanisms, which amounts to N75 billion. The 

N203 billion guarantee funds under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund, 

ACGSF.

In addition, he stated that the amount so far disbursed include the N203 billion Small 

Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Scheme, SMECGS programmes through a revolving 

credit facilities.

He said that the government added another N2 billion of interest rebate funds under the 

revolving Interest Draw Back, IDB of the ACGSF and single digit interest rates in many other 

schemes. According to him, CBN has directed the establishment of agricultural desks at all 

deposit money banks, DMBs, licensing and supervision of operations of microfinance banks, 

MFBs, collateral registry to register security interests in all kinds of assets to ease collateral 

constraint and expansion of foreign exchange exclusion list to promote domestic production.

On his part, Mr. Paul Melherbe, stated that there are three key issues that require special 

attention for Nigeria to meet its private sector development agenda. These he listed as 

including a change of focus from youth education to youth entrepreneurship, increased 

interventions that promote gender empowerment and directly developing SMEs with limited 

skills.

“Most Africans SMEs are faced with growth challenges because there is a dependency on 

large companies or cooperates to educate them. Our business landscape can only improve 

if we don’t wait but rather place our lens on collaborations to develop human capital at SME 

level, matching the right skills with right jobs, training the management of those businesses 

and helping them access capital to reinvent themselves, this is our core focus at AMSCO,” 

said Malherbe.