PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Monday officially inaugurated the Development Bank of Nigeria, which is a new financial institution aimed at providing financial life-line to Nigerian entrepreneurs.
President Jonathan, while performing the ceremony at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja said the initiative was part of his administration’s move to expand the public-private sector partnership with a view to opening up the nation’s business horizon to serious competitiveness.
The DBN in addition to empowering Nigeria’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with long-term loans with generous moratorium Will provide MSMEs with training, easy access to loan facilities and increased access to markets.
The new DBN has share capitals from well known international development financial institutions such as the World Bank (WB), African Development Bank (AfDB), the Development Bank of Germany and the Development Bank of France.
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy/Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,mwho has been the driving force behind the establishment of the bank, said it was a joint effort of the Federal Government and some international financial institutions aimed at addressing the acute under funding of the MSMEs, which is a component of the nation’s economy.
According to the statistics from the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Federal Government agency responsible for coordinating the small scale business activities in Nigeria, there are 17 million MSMEs in Nigeria employing about 32 million people, while contributing over 45 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
