the proposed Wholesale Development bank through the union’s
development financing outfit, the European Development Bank (EIB).
The Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda who made
this known while receiving a delegation of the European Union led by
the EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Michel Arrion, also revealed that the
bid has raised significant interest among global funding agencies.
According to him the World Bank has pledged $500 million while other
development oriented financial institutions like the African
Development Bank have also committed some funds for the take off of
the bank.
The Minister explained that the aim was to boost the growth of the
real sector by ensuring long term financing and drastically cutting
down interest rate, adding that the Federal Government would soon be
embarking on a road-show to some specific countries to raise more
capital.
He said further: “We are developing a whole sale development bank in
Nigeria. The idea of the bank is to give long term financing to SMEs
and increase their source of borrowing. We did a study of the informal
sector which showed that the sector constituted 45 percent of our GDP.
“We have a firm belief that if we are able to increase their access to
funds especially long term, that will go a long way in increasing the
GDP of this country and integrating them into the formal sector of the
economy.”
The EU envoy had earlier hinted that EIB is already well established
in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal as a development financier would like to
boost their activities in Nigeria by funding long term projects.
In his reaction, Yuguda urged the bank to take advantage of the
investment opportunities open in the proposed bank and thanked the
bank for its rigorous procedure in ensuring that the facilities they
grant Nigerian banks were aligned to the nation’s development
priorities.
“We know that EIB has been helping Nigeria banks. We are also aware
that before they grant any facility to any bank in Nigeria they would
normally seek for authorization through your office (EU envoy) from
the National Planning Commission, and I went through many of them
while serving as the supervising Minister of National Planning.”
Yuguda who earlier this year brokered the deal for the EU’s grant of
512 million Euros (about N112 billion) towards supporting agriculture
and rural development in the north as well as electricity and
governance nationwide further welcomed Arrion’s request for EU to
boost its support to the Presidential Initiative for the North-East
(PINE) in the rebuilding of the North East zone.
Speaking further he said: “ For us in the Federal Ministry of Finance,
we are handling the safe school initiative which is a very big
programme. We appreciate your concern in this regard and will be
prepared to provide the necessary support to ensure that your efforts
were in tandem with the Presidential intervention programme.”
