State Govt undertakes payment of interest on CBN Loan Scheme

Succor is underway for would-be beneficiaries of the recently launched CBN’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) loan scheme as State government has announced its readiness to undertake payment of interest on the loan.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akan Okon who made this known in Uyo when he received a delegation from the Small,and Medium Enterprises Development Authority of Nigeria (SMEDAN) said, the move is part of government’s effort to assist small scale businesses to thrive and operators overcome the challenge of interest servicing.

Mr Okon who described MSME as the engine room of the economy of any nation in view of its capacity to create jobs and generate wealth , said that government would continue to support the sub-sector with the view to facilitating high productivity and accelerated economic growth.

He said with the pre-launch of the CBN’s MSME loan scheme in the State, emphasis would be on training, and capacity building for beneficiaries to acquire knowledge on managerial skills to start and grow their businesses, adding that the enabling environment already put in place would pave the way for enduring enterprises.

While commending SMEDAN for their great strides in the State, Commissioner Akan Okon assured that government would work closely with the Agency by keying into their laudable programs ,and charged them to be veritable partners in the Apex bank’s credit scheme through their database access, mentoring ,monitoring, and  supervision to ensure application of funds for the purpose for which it is meant for.

Earlier, the Centre Manager of SMEDAN, Lucy Ekpenyong said the visit was to re-energies the existing working relationship between the Agency and  the state government and to fashion out ways to move the sub-sector forward.

The Centre Manager said they have achieved a lot in the last eight years despite financial constraints through the effective application of workable framework such as organizing sensitization workshops, Advisory roles, mentoring ,supervision, etc, and solicited greater collaboration to address problems impeding the systematic development and growth of SME in the State.

She also lauded the industrialization drive of the State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel and pledged their support towards articulating and actualizing his core agenda of job creation, income generation, high productivity and poverty reduction in the State.

It would be recalled that the CBN MSME credit scheme as launched by the federal government in 2014 was geared towards bolstering the performance of small scale enterprises in the country with a single digit interest rate.