How to Apply For CBN N50bn COVID-19 Support LOAN for Households and Businesses
You can recall that the Federal Government of Nigeria as part of the measures to reduce the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on businesses in Nigeria, the CBN introduced the Covid-19 support loans for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
By Austin Okonji
The Covid-19 support fund was meant to be distributed by NIRSAL Microfinance Bank; the loan will attract an interest rate of 5% per annum. Therefore it means that if you are a household, SME or MSME you had up to February 28th, 2021to apply. If you have failed to apply by that date, the interest will become 9% per annum as from March 1st, 2021.
Therefore, if you apply by now you will be paying 9% interest on the amount given to you as loan. You can still apply and enjoy the loan.
This loan is not a grant; it is a loan repayable with interest. Please bear in mind that you must use this loan judiciously so that you can make profit from your investments in order to repay the loan with interest at the end of the tenor.
Who Are Eligible? Households to be eligible to benefit from the loan, they must be able to provide verifiable evidence of a livelihood adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. They must also allow the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank to assess their financial records. What this means is that they must have been keeping financial records which can be assessed. If the household meets this condition, then they can access a maximum loan of N3 million from the Microfinance Bank.
What do they require for the application? The following should be provided:
Loan Application Letter
Duly Completed Application Form
A Valid Means of Identification: (National ID, Driver’s Licence, Nigerian Voters’ Card, or International Passport)
Current Utility Bill
Two (2) recent Passport-sized Photographs
Bank Verification Number (BVN)
MSMEs/COPORATE ENTERPRISES can also access the funding in the following ways:
Mini SME (Funding between N3m – N10m)
SME Plus (Funding between N10.1 – N25m)
Existing business enterprises must provide verifiable evidence of their business activities adversely affected as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. They must also agree to allow NIRSAL Microfinance Bank to have access to and assess their financial records.
The Bank will assess the capacity of the customer through their business history gotten from the records of the activities of the business kept before the pandemic.
The bank will know the total banking operations turnover with both NMFB and other banks.
The bank will also use other financial instruments to determine the eligibility of the company.
Requirements:
Loan Application Letter
Duly Completed Application Form
Duly Executed Guarantor Form
A Valid Means of Identification: (National ID, Driver’s Licence, Nigerian Voters’ Card, or International Passport)
Current Utility Bill
Two (2) recent Passport-sized Photographs
Bank Verification Number (BVN)
Please note that the Amount of loan that shall be given to any SME shall be determined based on the activity, cash flow and the size of the market or industry controlled by the company, subject to a maximum of N25 million.
For your business to benefit from this loan, you must be able to clearly state how the Covid-19 pandemic adversely affected your business operations. This means that you must have kept records of your activities before the pandemic. There must have been records of your assets, current assets and fixed assets.
For example, if you are poultry farmer, you had 5,000 birds aged 5 months before the pandemic, and during the pandemic you were not able to source enough feeds for them, and because of that and other problems you lost 3,000 of your birds.
Now, the question is have you been keeping records of your day old purchases? What of the receipts of purchases of feed and drugs? Have you been keeping records of the veterinary Doctor’s visitation and charges? All these are the evidences you will provide to convince the Bank officials of your claim.
You can see why it is very important to keep records of your business operations. Nobody knew that the Covid-19 pandemic was going to have so much impact on businesses. If you cannot engage the services of a qualified Accountant to take care of your accounts, please try and get a part-time accounts person to help you.
We will keep you posted on further developments from the prograame.