CBN says 8 million Nigerians apply for COVID-19 loans, N400bn disbursed

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has disbursed about N400 billion to no less than 600,000 Nigerians who applied for its COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility to help households and businesses.

The apex bank revealed that it has received over eight million applications from Nigerians toward the COVID-19 facility.

CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr Osita Nwanisiobi, disclosed this on Saturday, while fielding questions from journalists in Enugu during a one-day interactive enlightenment session with organised labour and civil society groups on the five-year policy thrust of the CBN.

Nwanisiobi, said that CBN would not rest on its oars as the TCF had helped Nigerians exit recession and post the current Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 5.01 per cent.

He added that over 600,000 applicants had benefited from the various COVID-19-induced interventions so far.

He faulted claims that residents of Enugu State did not receive the CBN credit facilities, saying: “That would not be true. If you tell me that there are people who still need COVID-19 facility and who have not received it; honestly, I will agree with you.

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“We started with about N50 billion. We moved to N100 billion, to N300 billion; today; we are talking about N400 billion. Now, the number of applications that we have is over eight million applications and we have done over 600,000.

“Now, will people complain that they haven’t received it? The answer is yes; you see the number and then you see what we are doing.

“The reality is that we are not resting on our oars. The governor is actually very passionate because he has also seen that what we have done in this regard also help Nigerians exit recession and to post the kind of GDP that we have posted and so he is poised to do more.”

On the reason behind the targeted stakeholders for the interactive session, Nwanisiobi said the enlightenment was to educate the labour leaders who were critical stakeholders in the central bank policies, interventions, programmes and initiatives.