The Chairman Senate Committee on Industry, Senator Tokunbo Abiru, yesterday queried the decision of the Bank of Industry to disburse a ‘meager’ N40billion released to finance Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Tokunbo and his committee had invited the Managing Director of BoI, Olukayode Pitan, for questioning on the 2021 Budget in Abuja.
Pitan had informed the committee that the bank has released N165billion to large enterprises while MSMEs got N40 billion as at last month.
The BoI boss explained that only N40 billion was released to MSMEs because most people at that level were not ready to repay the loan as they believed that the cash was government money that should not be repaid.
The Committee wondered how could N164billion go to large enterprises while MSMEs got only N40billion, describing the development as sad.
Pitan, who explained the process of securing the loan, noted that commercial banks handle the process while the BOI disburse the funds to the beneficiaries.
Pitan said, “The commercial banks are the ones that give guarantees because they are the ones that would finalise the process.
“They determine where the loans go but there is no loan that goes out of the bank of industry that we on our own, don’t analyse.”
