THE Bank of Industry, BoI, has recorded its most impressive performance in 2016 by posting double-digit growths in almost all aspects of its operations. Within the year, the bank disbursed more than N66 billion to hundreds of small, medium and large scale businesses across the country.

Waheed Olagunju, acting managing director/chief executive officer, BoI, who disclosed on Thursday, May 11, at the 57th annual general meeting, AGM, of the bank, said the bank, within its 15 years of establishment, invested over a trillion naira in more than 25,000 small, medium and large enterprises.

Olagunju said BoI had also assisted ventures spanning several sectors of the Nigerian economy including agro and solid minerals processing, petro chemicals and polymer, cotton textile and apparels, automobiles, creative industries as well as Information Communication and Technology. “These enterprises have had considerable impact on Nigeria’s economy including the generation of more than five million direct and indirect jobs.”

According to him, the bank recorded outstanding improvements across board including a 44 percent increase in profit before tax, PBT, over the previous year 2015. “For instance, while the volume of new loans rose by 10 per cent to N171 billion, from N156 billion in 2015, disbursements to SMEs similarly went up by 42 percent within the same period to N8 billion from N5.64 billion. More than 800 enterprises that could potentially generate over 1,000,000 jobs benefited from BoI’s facilities last year.

“The quality of the bank’s risk assets improved phenomenally as the ratio of non-performing loans dropped to 3.72 percent in 2016 from 5.87 percent in 2015. The average ratio of non-performing loans in Nigeria’s banking system rose to 14 percent in 2016 which is beyond the Central Bank of Nigeria’s threshold of five percent. The bank also posted an operating Profit before Tax of N17 billion, which represents a 44 percent increase over 2015’s N11.9 billion.”

Olagunju said BoI in its bid to ensuring the MSMEs account for at least 30 percent of its projected risk assets of N1.2 trillion by 2019, as at April 30, 2017, the bank had already exceeded last year’s disbursement to MSME’s by disbursing more than N13 billion as against last year’s N8 billion which represents 62 percent increase.

Accordingly, he said, BoI has embarked on a N1 trillion fund mobilisation drive within and outside the country to part finance the industrial component of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, as well as support ventures that would fast-track Nigeria’s realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, and also rev BOI’s risk assets up to N1.2 trillion by 2019 in line with its revalidated strategic plan (2016-2019).

“Under the plan, it is envisaged that enterprises financed by BoI would generate more than five million jobs. In this regard, the Bank of Industry has commenced discussion with the Development Bank of Nigeria and some foreign national as well as multilateral development finance institutions,” he said.

—  May 22, 2017 @ 1:00 GMT