Managing Director BOI, Olukayode Pitan, gave the indication while inspecting some of the bank’s supported projects in Edo State, stating that the increased capital base would enable the bank to meet the demand of investors in different parts of the nation.

Some of the companies visited include Happinex Foam Industry Nigeria Limited, Benco Aluminium Steel Products Limited and Lit Foods Nigeria Limited. He expressed the bank’s readiness to provide funding support to industrialists in the state, who are operating in the key areas of production activities already mapped out by the state government.

Pitan said, “Edo State is one of the states where we have an existing relationship on SMEs development. The bank has supported a number of projects in the state and still committed to granting loans to genuine entrepreneurs. To enable the bank to extend its loan reach to the teeming customers across the nation, plans are under way to raise between N500 billion to N1 trillion from both local and foreign development partners.”

Earlier, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State acknowledged the various impacts of BoI on business activities in the state but challenged it to extend loans to large business operators. He said if large businesses had access to finance, it would positively impact the production activities of small business owners.