CBN, Lagos unveil cheap loans for graduates

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has unveiled special funds to be disbursed as cheap loans to graduates.

Also, the Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, said the state was set to commence the disbursement of the N25 billion Employment Trust Fund which it said would be given out at less than three per cent interest rate.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, made this known while speaking at the opening ceremony of the 7th Bankers
Committee Retreat in Lagos, stating that the new scheme was asides the N220 billion Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund. According to him, there was the need for banks to work together with the initiatives of the apex bank to support employment generating businesses.

Emefiele, who noted that less than half of the N220 billion MSME Development Fund which was launched 2013 has so far been disbursed said “we would need the support of the banks to begin to see how do we lower sort of our risk acceptance criteria to give support to our young graduates.”

Also speaking at the retreat, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun assured the banking executives that while the Federal Government will borrow to stimulate the economy, it would not borrow to finance recurrent expenditure but to finance capital expenditure.