About N780 billion has been disbursed to manufacturers and other real sector players by the Bank of Industry (BoI) between 2010 and 2014, Rasheed Olaoluwa, managing director of the bank, has disclosed.
BoI is Nigeria’s development bank, responsible for steering the real sector through single-digit and long-term financing. In the last five years, the bank has funded agro processors and manufacturers cutting across sub-sectors such as iron, steel, aluminium, automotive, food and beverages, card and metering, among others.
Speaking at the yearly conference of the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers in Osogbo, Osun State, Olaoluwa said the bank had increased its intervention to critical sectors of the economy within the last five years, specifically between 2010 to 2014.
“BoI has become impactful within the last five years and at least 1.8million jobs have created through such efforts,” he said.
“Before 2009, the level of intervention was below N30 billion, but we have been able to improve access of customers to the funds as well as increase their capacity in the utilisation of such facilities,” he added.
Olaoluwa said the bank was doing everything possible to ensure that it could provide comprehensive support, particularly to the small and medium enterprises.
“We are reviewing our regional status to state offices in order to be able to serve our customers better,” he stressed.
BoI’s consistent support to manufacturers and farmers is expected to plug funding loopholes in the real sector, which has resulted in a call for a development bank.
But the BoI CEO said the bank would continue to support the real sector as much as possible.
He tasked members of the institute on the need to adhere strictly to professional ethics, stressing that valuation of assets remained a critical aspect of financial intermediation that was often fraught with malpractices.
He frowned at placement of false values on assets, stressing that the practice was prevalent in an industry where professionals had decided not to adhere to ethical guidelines.
“Development and financial institutions most times discover that the value placed on some assets does not represent the reality and this is affecting financial intermediation by development finance institutions. Estate valuers play a critical role in the society as they are at the centre in placing value on assets,” he said.
As a bank, we depend on their judgement. The institute needs to task its members on the need to embrace fair and ethical practice while performing their duties.”
“Similarly, professionals in the estate valuation industry cannot afford to ignore the place of technology in the discharge of their duties in order to be globally recognised and competitive,” he said.
ODINAKA ANUDU
