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ECOWAS bank to understudy BoI on project financing

By on September 14, 2013

The leaders of Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, EBID, Togo, are to understudy Nigeria’s Bank of Industry’s success on project financing.

The group said it intends to replicate the success of BoI on project financing in member countries after the study.

Speaking during a visit to BoI’s headquarters in Lagos, the Operations Director, EBID, Mr. Isaac Olagunju, said EBID also plans to go into alliance with BoI to finance projects for ECOWAS member states on completion of the study.

Olagunju, who led a delegation comprising of members of African Development Finance Institutions, ADFI, said the need to understudy the workings of BoI, which has become a success among ADFI, remained imperative for members of his team.

He noted that BoI was at the forefront of the establishment of ADFI, and as such remained a strong member that has been playing leading advocacy role towards the growth of Africa as a whole. Olagunju further explained that Nigeria and BoI remained a major market for other Development and Finance Institutions, especially as it relates to poor country products and cross border integration, maintaining that these are critical areas where development banks in Africa can key into.

He said beyond project financing, there was also the need for EBID to collaborate with BoI in development, cross border project and SMEs financing alongside staff development training strategies.

“Remember that BoI is the single largest bank for EBID and it is in the light of this that we must liaise with them to get the desired level of funding for project financing, taking into cognisance that that the bank is a success story in itself,” he said.

In response, the General Manager, Operations, BoI, Mr. Joseph Babatunde, while thanking the visiting team for considering it worthy to undertake a study tour of BoI, assured that the bank would look into the request for a funding pact to boost infrastructure growth in the West African sub-region.

Babatunde noted that, “BoI was committed to the growth of the industrial sector in Nigeria and by extension the SMEs , hence, its decision to commit about 80 percent of its resources to SME development,” adding that, “it also has a counterpart funding arrangement with some state governments to grow the small scale sector.”

 

 

 

[Vanguard]