The Bank of Industry (BOI) has disbursed interest-free loans to more than 350,000 beneficiaries the 36 states of the federation including the FCT since December 2016, under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), one of the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) of the Federal Government.
In a statement, Executive Director, Financial Inclusion, BOI, Toyin Adeniji, said the interest-free loans do not require any collateral and are repayable within six months with a grace period of two weeks. She added that 31,594 microenterprises in Lagos State have benefitted from MarketMoni loans under the scheme.
The GEEP scheme includes loans in different categories called TraderMoni, MarketMoni, and FarmerMoni. In December 2016, disbursement commenced across the country, and as of today, there are over 350,000 beneficiaries across all 36 states of the nation including the FCT,” the statement said. At the launching of the Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) Clinic in Lagos, Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, said that the federal government is commitment to ensuring that challenges facing MSMEs in the country were addressed by easing policies undermining their growth.
Osinbajo added that government was working towards providing MSMEs a credit facility of N2 million to N10 million without collateral, adding that the effort was to ensure that MSMEs find an enabling environment to thrive in the country. A cross-section of MarketMoni beneficiaries in Lagos and key stakeholders in charge of the scheme had converged at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, for the launch of the Lagos version of the MSME Clinic, where beneficiaries exhibited their products.
