Acting Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Waheed Olagunju disclosed this at the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the facility between the bank and the National Council for Arts and Culture, NCAC in Abuja.
Olagunju said the aim of the bank for approving the loan was to ensure inclusive growth in the nation’s economy and to create jobs for millions of Nigerians in the creative industry. The loan according to him will be dispensed on a single digit interest rate of 5 per cent and payable for a period of four to five years and is available at a minimum of N5 million to all intending beneficiaries.
‘‘Through this partnership, we are going to partner with Thailand to move our Arts and Culture industry to the next level. Our aim is to engender inclusive economic growth. If we are able to achieve this, it will be another way to achieve inclusive growth and economic diversification.
‘‘The entry point of this loan is very low, art and culture is an area we can domesticate our capacity to earn foreign exchange. We are excited in this collaboration to propel Nigerian Art Industry to a higher level.
‘‘Thailand makes four to five billion dollars annually from Arts and Craft. They advertise their craft at galleries, sell them to visitors and earn foreign exchange. Akin to what is happening in Thailand, we are in partnership with our traditional rulers to empower our people to earn foreign exchange trough arts and crafts,’’ he said.
The BOI boss charged the NCAC management to ensure that all raw materials for Arts and Crafts manufactured in the country are sourced locally to reduce their take off cost and operational expenses.
He also appealed to relevant stakeholders in the country to build a conducive environment for artisans to enable them operate at optimal level.
In his remarks, the Director General of NCAC, Otunba Segun Runsewe , said with the signing of the MoU with BOI, Arts and Culture has become next revenue base of Nigeria.
He described the partnership with BOI as new dawn in the history of the nation’s economic development.
‘‘It is absolutely a new dawn. BOI is making history in giving a corporate support to NCAC. The BOI commitment will touch so many lives as it is expected to create millions of jobs for our artists.
‘‘Time has come for us to come and join the movement to make Arts and Culture the next revenue hope of the nation. Our people should take advantage of the industry in diversifing the economy.
NCAC is going to be hub of culture in Nigeria as culture is the new oil in Nigeria.
‘‘We have come to BOI to employ our people. We must move away from what we have been holding tenaciously. Culture has three to four chains of building the economy which we intend to explore to empower our artists.’’
