The Nigerian government has revealed the criteria for getting a Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) loan, for which they say only companies with fewer than 250 employees are eligible.
This was revealed by DBN’s managing director, Mr. Tony Okpanachi, in a meeting with the ad hoc Senate committee investigating the unequal disbursement of its loans. They also noted that their lending criteria are similar to those set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Okpanachi told the Senate committee that only small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with less than 250 employees and revenue not exceeding 1.1 billion naira are qualified to access his loans.
It revealed that SMEs in southern Nigeria have received the most funding due to having the most requirements.
- “Our loans have criteria and they are the same as those established by the Central Bank of Nigeria. We conduct a risk assessment of Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) before they start lending to businesses. We don’t want to give money and money is wasted. So we track the end users of the loans on an annual basis.” he said.
He also said the DBN noted that there were problems with interest-based banking and lending in the north, citing that it has contracted two interest-free banks in Nigeria to serve that region.
The DBN chief said the process is ongoing to bring in more companies and urged participating financial institutions to build the capacity of small businesses and train them on how to structure their businesses in order to access loans.
For the record: Nairametry reported before the Nigerian Senate created a committee to investigate the unequal disbursement of N500 billion made by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) to the six geopolitical zones.
The senate noted that Lagos was the main beneficiary, with 47% of the total loan, while the entire northern region got 11%.