BOI disburses record N644.9bn, creates 1.68m jobs

The Bank of Industry (BOI) has disbursed a record N644.9 billion to Nigerian businesses in 2025, creating or supporting 1.68 million jobs as the development finance institution steps up efforts to expand manufacturing, strengthen small businesses and reduce the financing constraints limiting industrial growth.

The amount represented a 26 per cent increase over the N510.9 billion disbursed in 2024 and reached 12,501 businesses across the country, according to the bank’s managing director and chief executive officer during a meeting with business editors on Thursday.

The bank also provided N120.9 billion to women-owned businesses, while micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) received 41 per cent of its total funding, exceeding the 35 per cent target under its 2025–2027 corporate strategy.

The figures highlight the growing role of development finance in an economy where businesses require longer-term capital to acquire machinery, expand production, improve infrastructure and compete in domestic and export markets.

The BOI said it had mobilised more than €2.2 billion and N250 billion in new funding through international development partners, syndicated financing and its domestic development bond. The transactions include a €1.879 billion syndicated facility in 2024, €210 million from international development partners in 2025 and a N250 billion development bond in 2026 that was oversubscribed.

The institution also secured €85 million from the European Investment Bank for agriculture and another €50 million for healthcare manufacturing, providing additional financing for sectors critical to food security and local production.

Managing the financing gap remains central to the bank’s strategy. The BOI said 80 per cent of its large-enterprise lending now goes to manufacturing and infrastructure, reflecting its focus on sectors expected to generate employment, expand output and lower the cost of doing business.

Infrastructure financing exceeded N108 billion in 2025, supporting projects that included 100 mini-grids and broadband connectivity to more than 700 communities.

Through its Rural Area Programme on Investment for Development (RAPID), the bank also disbursed N6.5 billion to 880 rural enterprises across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, supporting more than 8,000 jobs.

The institution said its mini-grid investments connected 11,777 households and businesses to electricity, while approximately N213 billion was disbursed to agro-allied businesses, linking 47,508 smallholder farmers with processors.

These interventions are intended to address structural constraints facing Nigerian enterprises, including unreliable electricity, weak logistics, limited access to affordable capital and inadequate connections between agricultural producers and industrial processors.

The BOI also reported that it had delivered more than 95 per cent of the Federal Government’s N200 billion intervention entrusted to it. The programme comprises a N50 billion Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme, a N75 billion MSME Intervention Fund and a N75 billion Manufacturing Sector Fund. According to the bank, it reached 957,400 grant beneficiaries, 9,000 MSMEs and 104 large manufacturers.

As the institution enters the final phase of its 2025–2027 strategy, it plans to expand financing for agriculture, local medicine production, information and communications technology, and digital businesses, while working with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on a National Industrial Finance Compact.

The BOI’s task is to double its loan book, disbursements and development impact under the strategy. Its performance will ultimately be measured not only by the volume of money disbursed, but also by how much additional production, sustainable employment and domestic value addition that financing delivers to the Nigerian economy.