Jalingo – The Bank of Industry (BoI) and Taraba Government on Thursday collaboratively earmarked N700 million for disbursement as soft loans to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state.
Alhaji Aliyu Umar, the BoI’s North-East Regional Manager, disclosed this in Jalingo at a sensitisation workshop organised for the loan applicants.
According to Umar, the loan is under the Federal Government’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) scheme.
He said the bank would provide N350 million of the amount while the government would provide the other half of the amount.
The manager said the bank’s part of the loan would attract a five per cent interest while the state required no interest for its portion.
He stressed that the scheme was meant for cooperative entrepreneurs running cottage agro-allied related industries.
Mr Lawan Yakubu, the Permanent Secretary, Taraba Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, said the aim of the workshop was to sensitise the applicants to the requirements for obtaining the loan.
Yakubu expressed concern that over 90 per cent of the applications received so far did not fully comply with BoI’s appraisal requirements.
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He said most of the applicants did not design a comprehensive business plan, while others applied for cultivation of crops instead of stating how to add value to crops cultivated.
The permanent secretary, therefore, urged the applicants to adhere strictly to the requirements of the loan to benefit from it. (NAN)