The Office of the Vice-President, in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, is set to commence the disbursement of loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by January 2024.

Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, Vice-President Kashim Shettima’s senior special assistant on job creation and MSMEs, announced this in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement said that the move was part of an effort to keep President Bola Tinubu’s promise to support the transformation of the MSME space in the country.

It revealed that the loans totalling about N75 billion would be given to small businesses nationwide at an interest rate of nine per cent. It disclosed that the federal government and BOI would leverage existing platforms to provide loans to small businesses, targeting women and youths.

Since he assumed office, according to the statement, Mr Tinubu has collaborated with stakeholders across the public and private sectors to provide massive support for MSMEs in grants and loans.

“Recently, the management of Access Bank Plc approved an upward review of its loan scheme for MSMEs from N30 billion to N50 billion. The upward review, according to the bank, is to increase the number of beneficiaries of the bank’s loan scheme and impact more livelihoods,” the statement added.

(NAN)