Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, Bauchi state governor has on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian Export-Import Bank as part of his administration’s economic diversification policies.
A press statement by his media aide Mukhtar Gidado said the singing ceremony held at the Council Chamber, Government House Bauchi, was meant to foster advancement of the state.
The statement quoted the governor as saying that Bauchi was blessed with natural resources and his administration in partnership with stakeholders will harnessed them so as to improve the living standards of the citizenry.
The Governor said his administration had keyed into the Economic Recovery policy of the Federal Government to reduce over dependence on federation allocation.
“I am pleased to welcome MD of EXIM bank who has shown a lot of interest and support in making sure the state diversify its economy through other means.
“We have told our people that, we want to open new frontiers for Bauchi and bring good governance to the people.” With this opportunity, we will take Bauchi to the next level of development.”
He said the state government had developed an agricultural policy in which rural farmers would have an opportunity to access financial assistance from critical partners.
Governor Bala Mohammed assured the Bank management that his administration will provide them with conducive environment for smooth implementation of the agreement in the state.
On his part, the Managing Director of the Bank, Malam Abba Bello said NEXIM Bank is particularly interested in working with small and medium enterprises to provide them with financial assistance.
The managing Director said since inception, the Bank has supported over 1000 SME’s many of which currently rank among the top 100 exporters in Nigeria.
He said with the signing of the agreement, the Bank will support the state with not less than 1 billion naira to finance non oil exports.
Abba Bello said the benefit of the MoU include, improved market access and export diversification, supporting farmers at the grassroots among others.
He appealed to the Governor to provide the Bank with conducive environment to achieved the set objectives of economic diversification in the state.
