By Dipo Olowookere
The Director of Development Finance at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Mudashiru Olaitan, has disclosed that the disbursement of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) to micro, small and medium businesses in the country would resume very soon.
Mr Olaitan made this known at the 3rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association of Non-Bank Micro Finance Institutions (ANMFIN) held in Abuja on Thursday.
The scheme was launched by the CBN on August 15, 2013 as part of its developmental role and mandate of promoting a sound financial system in recognition of the role of SMEs in the growth of the country’s economy.
“I quite agree that there have been some delays; there is no doubt about that,” he said, explaining that the CBN was in the process of overhauling the disbursement process to make it more efficient.
“But we are trying to overhaul the system to make it much more efficient and effective,” the apex bank’s top shot said at the event.
However, he noted that, “While we are reviewing the process, I think there have been some disbursements (made).”
According to him, “We have disbursed about 500 million to about 60MFIs.”
Mr Olaitan assured that, “We are not resting, we are going to continue.”
He emphasised that “one of the reasons why I came here was to appeal to you to exercise a little patience, because very soon, all the issues would be addressed.”