By Demola Akinyemi

ILORIN—The Federal Government weekend blamed Nigerian entrepreneurs for refusing to take advantage of the N200 billion made available by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for them to improve their lives and wriggle out of the current economic recession.

Head, Entrepreneur Development Centre arm of Central Bank of Nigeri, CBN, in Ibadan office, Pastor Funsho Popoola, stated this  during an empowerment programme organised in conjunction with Rafiu Ibrahim Bilal Foundation of Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, who represents Kwara South, for 100 beneficiaries across the seven local councils.

The Central Bank of Nigeria head office in Abuja.

‘’Though the economic recession  is on its way out,  I’m shocked that up till now, many Nigerians are not interested in information that would have helped them out of economic problem.

‘’They are rather interested in comedians’ jokes on the radio and watching movies on the television.’’

Popoola, who noted that N200 billion had been released by the federal government since the last three years for this purpose, criticised the masses’ complacency to access the funds, despite the fact that access to the funds had  been largely relaxed for easy take.

He noted also that the economic crisis  would have been a much more serious one had the fund not been released, stressing that so far, only 45% of the money had been released.

According to him, the population of beneficiaries has largely reduced the impact of the economic recession.

The CBN officer, who stressed that all that was needed now was a realistic business proposal and a civil service guarantor for the loan that attracts only 9% interest rate, said the conditions were merely provided to ensure that the money was judiciously spent and paid back for others to benefit.