NIRSAL MFB’s Loans to SMEs, Households Hit N503bn

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank (NIRSAL MFB) has so far doled out loans totalling over N503 billion to about one million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and households.

Most of the loans are from the COVID-19 intervention fund released by the federal government to cushion the impact of the pandemic on households and small businesses.

Figures from NIRSAL MFB indicate that the bank has disbursed N503,273,000,000 as loans to over one million beneficiaries, including individuals and families whose bread winners lost their jobs in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The loans comprise 612,321 households which received it ranging from N250,000 to N1 million, totalling N240,083,000,000.

Others are103,185 SMEs, which got
loans valued at N104,023,000,000
between 2020 and December 2021.

Households that are Non-Interest Beneficiaries (NIB) of the NIRSAL MFB loans numbering 21,027 have also so far secured facilities amounting to N9,091,000,000, while SMEs under the Non-Interest Scheme (NIB SME) numbering 2,710 have accessed N1,057,000,000.

Similarly, a total of 31,067 Agric Small Medium Enterprises Scheme (AGSMEIS) beneficiaries have accessed N116,001,000,000 from NIRSAL MFB in one year.

A total of 105,244 Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) successful applicants have received loans amounting to N31,001,000,000, while 5,527 Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) have also drawn down N1,009,000,000 loans.

Many groups and agencies, 23 of them have in the course of 2021 awarded NIRSAL MFB awards for making these loans available to Nigerians.

They include Public Service Bank of the Year 2021 Award to NIRSAL MFB from the National Public Service Awards and Summits; the Most Innovative Fintech Brands from African Award 2020 from African Brand.

Awards of Excellence were also given to NIRSAL MFB by Rotary International and Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association of Nigeria (NAOWA), while the Outstanding Performance towards Economic Development award was delivered by the Sokoto Chamber of Commerce Industry and Mines.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing Association gave NIRSAL MFB, the Award of Excellence and Youth Empowerment, just as the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria gave the bank awards of excellence.

At the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said the committee was impressed with Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) “for its contribution to alleviating poverty at the grassroots”.

He said the committee “thus urged the CBN to continue its support through the TCF to ensure that more people benefit from this programme”.

Speaking on the awards, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NIRSAL MFB, Mr. Abubakar Abdullahi Kure, said: “NMFB makes sure that all the six-geopolitical zones are beneficiaries to promote financial inclusion.”