AGOS – Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN) on Wednesday said it would facilitate access of microfinance banks, cooperatives and other organizations to the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Entreprises (MSME) funds.
The coordinator of RUFIN in Lagos state, Mrs Funmi Bello, stated this in Lagos at the opening of a three-day workshop organised by RUFIN for the banks and other financial institutions.
President Goodluck Jonathan launched the N220 billion MSME fund on Aug.19, 2014 to facilitate the growth of small and medium businesses in the country.
According to Bello, in facilitating access to the fund, RUFIN will be fulfilling its objective of full financial penetration to the rural areas in the country to reduce poverty, especially among woman and the physically-challenged.
“As we all know, most Nigerians in remote areas lack access to credit. RUFIN will facilitate access to the fund by asking interested parties to present their applications for verifications.
“In the workshop, we are going to scrutinise people that are interested. We will ask them to bring their application forms.
“We will help them to access the application based on Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guidelines, and we will assist microfinance banks, institutions, cooperatives and NGOs that meet the requirements to submit their forms directly to CBN,” she said.
Bello stressed that RUFIN was determined to ensure that Nigerians, especially those in remote parts of the country, had access to the fund.
She disclosed that the organization had penetrated and sensitized people in Epe, Badagry and Ikorodu Local Government Areas in Lagos state, and had linked no fewer than 4,000 business groups with financial institutions in the state. (NAN)