On Tuesday, the Jigawa government and the Bank of Industry (BOI) signed an N6 billion partnership agreement to facilitate industrial development in the state.

Governor Umar Namadi, while signing the memorandum of understanding in Dutse, said the deal demonstrated his commitment to achieving his 12-point agenda of making Jigawa an industrial hub.

The governor also inaugurated the Jigawa branch of the BOI in Dutse shortly after signing the MoU.

Mr Namadi said that of the N6 billion partnership agreement, N4 billion would be kept as a matching fund, while the remaining N2 billion would be used as “managing funds.”

The governor said the MoU would help prospective enterprises easily access soft loans for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

BOI managing director Olasupo Olusi said that the MoU clearly demonstrated the state government’s commitment to expanding industrial development.

Mr Olusi said Jigawa had made history by providing matching and management funds to support industrial growth. He said that N2 billion would be kept as the matching fund while another N2 billion would be used as the managing funds.

“The governor’s action is an indication of the state government’s readiness to unlock business opportunities in Jigawa. With the signing of this agreement, Jigawa has technically expanded access to its manufacturing sector and other relevant value chains in the 27 local government areas.

“Under this arrangement, Jigawa will provide N2 billion and the BOI will match it with N2 billion. The state is also providing N2 billion for the establishment of the managed funds,” said the BOI boss.

Mr Olusi added that with the MoU, Jigawa “has joined the league of over 40 strategic partners in BOI to bring development and finance services to its people, especially manufacturing industries.”

Mr Olusi explained that the step would support industrial value chain activities and reduce dependency on the neighbouring states for finished goods.

He said that the bank had also provided a regional intervention fund of N2 billion in the state branch of BOI for regional companies in Jigawa, in addition to N2.5 billion on the pipeline.

Mr Olusi said the bank had provided another special fund for industrial development in rural areas to mitigate rural-urban migration.

(NAN)