President Goodluck Jonathan will next month kick off the disbursement of N220 billion Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to the 36  states of the federation. The fund, which was launched last year is expected to create jobs, boost production, generate income and ultimately reduce poverty.

Speaking during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and some governors in Abuja, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said the effort is in furtherance of the central bank’s earlier endeavour at establishing the sixth entrepreneural development centres in each geo-political zone of the country to support the mandate of 23 development centres of the country under the purview of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

Emefiele said the SME loan would be disbursed and administered through the commercial banks whereas state governments would be able to access up to N2 billion each for on lending to eligible beneficiaries through participating financial institutions in their states. “This fund is directly in conformity with our resolve to create a professional and people-oriented central bank that will act as a financial catalyst for job creation and inclusive economic growth in our country.

“While these are ultimate goals, our main intermediate objective is to ensure that these funds get to people at economic and social pyramid at single digit rate. Without achieving these intermediate objective, I have no doubt that it will be impossible to achieve the ultimate goal of job creation and poverty reduction and by extension the economic growth and development in our country.

“In order to ensure the attainment of our goal, therefore, the Central Bank of Nigeria will be committing considerable human, material and financial resources to monitor both the disbursement and utilisation of these funds in a robust and verifiable manner,” he said.

To ensure that these funds are accounted for, he said CBN has put adequate measures to checkmate the spending.

“Participating financial institutions will be required to submit periodic returns on disbursement as well as analysis of the social impact of this fund on our people. The CBN will also undertake regular and off-site checks to ascertain the veracity of the report received. I enjoin all of you, your excellencies, to help us achieve these goals by ensuring that these funds are deployed in an effective and efficient manner,” he said.

Earlier, the governors had pleaded for the upward review of the N2 billion, which they will access and removal of unnecessary huddles in accessing the funds. This, the CBN governor promised to consider.

In his remarks, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, had pleaded for upward review of the N2 billion to enable the states to touch a lot of lives. This was corroborated by other governors, including the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Other governors that were there include Governor of State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Oyo State Governor, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi and representaives from Benue, Ondo, Imo, Sokoto, Gombe, Taraba, Ebonyi and Zamfara. Others are Bayelsa, Enugu and Ogun states.