Nigeria to Review Disbursement of N500bn development fund

Nigeria to Review Disbursement of N500bn development fund

Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Thursday that criteria for disbursement of N500billion Development Fund across the six geo – political zones will be reviewed for evenness.

She spoke  during her appearance before the Senate ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the alleged uneven disbursement of the N500bn Federal Government loans already given out to Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs).

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The Senate had following a motion by Senator Ali Ndume, set up the ad hoc panel chaired by Senator Sani Musa to investigate the matter.

Ndume had claimed that the South-West geopolitical zone in the country, especially Lagos State, had the largest number of the loans beneficiaries.

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The chief executive officers of the affected banks like the Development Bank of Nigeria and the Bank of Industry among others had told the panel that they adhered  strictly to the criteria set up by their regulators and not geopolitical considerations in giving out loans which made the committee to summon the Minister of Finance.

The Minister pledged to meet with the development banks management and their regulators, the Central Bank of Nigeria, to carry out the review of the criteria for loans disbursement.

She however, cautioned that such review would not be too flexible to ensure the sustainability of the development banks.

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“I have been given copies of reports already submitted to the committee by the development bank and promised to look into the criteria of  accessing  funds from the development banks with a view to making adjustments where possible,” she said.

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