The Jigawa state government on Tuesday signed a N6 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to facilitate access to soft loan for medium and small scale businesses in the state.
The state governor, Malam Umar Namadi, said the partnership was timely, considering that this project would have positive impact on the economy of the state.
Signing of the MoU at the Government House, Dutse, Namadi said the project was a milestone in his government’s journey toward poverty eradication, job creation, growth and development.
“Empowering people through their own business of choice is one of the strategies they adopted for accelerating growth and development in the state and Bank of Industry is a potential and key partner in achieving it.
“With this MoU we have now promised to join hands with the BOI to facilitate access to soft loan to our small, medium and even large scale business in the state.
“We are very happy today that we have BOI branch in our state, while all relevant state government agencies are fully engaged to enlighten the Jigawa citizens and support them to access the opportunities in the bank,” Namadi stressed.
The Executive Director Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) Bank of Industry, Alhaji Shekarau Umar, said the N6 billion MoU signed with the Jigawa state government is the biggest ever signed with any state in the country.
“In the last 13 years, they have been writing letters and paying advocacy for the establishment of the bank in Jigawa state but no positive response.
“However, within six months of such engagement with Governor Umar Namadi, the BOI dreams have become a reality,” Umar added.
