Oyo State Monitors Beneficiaries Of N500m SME Loan Support

The Oyo State government has begun the monitoring of beneficiaries of its N500m Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Loan Support under the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery (SAfER) initiative.

The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, and Chairman of the SAfER Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sub-committee, Professor Musibau Babatunde, led members of the sub-committee on a monitoring and evaluation visit to participating Microfinance banks and some beneficiaries of the loan in the Ibadan, Oyo and Ogbomoso zones of the state.

Professor Babatunde explained the efforts of Governor Seyi Makinde towards cushioning the effects of the hardship induced by the removal of fuel subsidy.

He stated that “the SAfER SME loan support was introduced to support and boost small and micro business enterprises in the state.”

He said; “under the loan scheme, N500 million was disbursed to partnering Microfinance banks across the seven zones of Oyo State to support and boost SMEs, regarded as the baseline for economic activities in the state, and to bring succour to residents during the present economic hardship, noting that SAfER, as introduced by Governor Makinde, has proved to be a master stroke towards helping individuals and households in the state become stronger financially.”

The Commissioner disclosed that the removal of the subsidy for gasoline products and the unified exchange rate by the Nigerian Government had led to the devaluation of the Naira.

According to him, the two policy shocks actually affected the general price level, as inflation shot up; and the exchange rate of the naira to the major currencies in the world depreciated to a very large extent.

Professor Babatunde noted; “The interest rate was increased to stabilise inflation and as a result of that, an economic crisis ensued and it has affected the people of the state, especially business owners.

“Governor Seyi Makinde, in his wisdom, felt that there was the need to make a conscious attempt to actually help and enhance the activities of small and micro enterprises in Oyo State. This was how the SME Pillar under the SAfER programme came about.”

“We went through the whole procedure, made it a single digit interest loan so that it is accessible and also the term of accessing was actually made flexible for the beneficiaries across the seven SME-supporting Microfinance banks in the seven geo-political zones of Oyo State,” he stated.

Professor Babatunde explained that the monitoring visit was to enable the committee to assess the level of operations of the Microfinance banks and their compliance with the operational framework guiding the disbursement of loan to the beneficiaries, since the state government had disbursed the loans in three tranches to the participating banks.

He expressed satisfaction on the repayment turnout of the beneficiaries, assuring applicants waiting to benefit from the laudable scheme that it would soon get to them.

He stressed that the loan is without collateral and the beneficiaries have a three-month moratorium before the commencement of repayment.

Similarly, the Director-General, Oyo State Investment and Public Private Partnership Agency (OYSIPA), Mr Olatilewa Folami, said Oyo State, under Governor Makinde, will always come up with poverty alleviation programmes that are impactful to support small and micro enterprises, and charged the beneficiaries to utilise the loans as expected and repay within the stipulated period of time.

In Oyo, 327 beneficiaries were given N70,000,000 by Isale Oyo Microfinance Bank, while a total sum of N70,000,000 was also disbursed to 300 beneficiaries through Caretaker Microfinance Bank, Ogbomoso.

In Ibadan zone, the Managing Director, NUT Oke-Bola Microfinance Bank, Ibadan and coordinator for the seven participating banks across the state, Dr Paul Adu, lauded the good initiative of the government.

Mercy Chukwudiebere