By Bimbola Oyesola

The Bank of Industry (BoI) says it disbursed over N36 billion within 9 months in 2016 to agro-allied sector of the economy.
Regional Head, Mr. Obaro Osa,  who stated this at the Lagos International Trade Fair SMEs forum organised by the bank over the weekend said bank’s loan portfolio as at 2014 stood at $2.7 billion, adding that the target was to shore it up to $5.4 billion by 2019 in a bid to drive home its mission statement.
He said, “It is imperative to know that BOI’s Non-Performing Loan Ratio is less than 4 percent.
“Our mission is to transform Nigeria’s financial space by supporting the large, the medium and small scale in a bid to bring life to entrepreneurship”.
He noted that BoI was committed to expanding its footprints from 15 state offices to 19 offices, revealing that it has a significant project for those in export and other commercial activities.
He  said that the short-cut to sales is clarity and there is utmost need to be clear in mind, adding that it was important also to identify the exact type of people being targeted recognising that they have both internal and external targets.
He admonished ”identifying your top 5 percent and top 20 percent customers and focusing your energy on them, handle every lead opportunity properly, offer your customers more services and more opportunities to do business with you, focus on NICHES, Up sell, Implement, Communicate more with your customer, Donít give up, Rinse repeat and profit” are the thriving strategies out of the present recessionî.
The Chief Promoter, Current Foams Industries & Chemical limited, Mr. Godwin Umeugoji, a beneficiary of the BOI loan lamented that Nigerians have business in mind, not in attitude and therefore advocated commitment, time-consciousness and hard work for smooth running of business in the country.
He stated, “Nigerians should stop denigrating their own products at the expense of foreign products because by so doing the Nigerian market would be greatly turned around”.
“BOI is God-sent to Nigeria because they are really touching lives.”


Federal-Government-of-Nigeria

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FG releases N1bn to rehabilitate  Abuja airport runway  

By Louis Ibah

The Federal Government has released about N1 billion for the urgent rehabilitation of the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
The government has already set up a committee to oversee the judicious use of the money and ensure the successful  restoration on the Abuja airport runway.
It was learnt that the rehabilitation project had already been advertised with Gilmore, Julius Berger and PW, as some of the firm’s that have bidded for the project.
The Abuja airport runway has been in bad state in recent months due to overutilisation by hundreds of aircraft that fly into it on a daily basis. Many stakeholders have decried the state of the runway and also pointed out that it needs a total  overhaul to meet international standards. They have also called on the government to build another runway as alternative to the existing one which has been over stretched.
Sources within the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) told Daily Sun, that the committee was expected to schedule the maintenance dates for the airport runways. “The maintenance will come at a huge cost of about N1billon which the government has already disbursed and the committee has the mandate to decide the dates and hours where the runway will be shut down so that work can be done on it,” said the official who preferred to remain anonymous.
“The Kaduna airport  has already been designated as alternative to the Abuja airport meaning that on dates that the Abuja airport is not functioning due to maintenance work, flights would be diverted to Kaduna airport,” the official added..
It was also learnt that once the  committee had made its  final report to the Minister of State for Aviation with dates and hours for the execution of the project agreed, the matter would thereafter be jointly discussed and agreed with the National Security Adviser (NSA).
Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs of FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, who confirmed the rehabilitation plan for the Abuja airport said all efforts are being made to ensure that runway is restored to international standards.