Nigeria’s Apex bank, CBN has revealed criteria for private sector companies to participate in newly financial instrument project implementation tagged ‘The 100 for 100 PPP – Policy on Production and Productivity’

In a statement made known to the public and signed by CBN’s director for development finance, Yusuf Yila Philip

Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, stated that under the new strategy, the central bank will advertise, screen, scrutinize, and financially assist 100 designated private sector enterprises every 100 days, commencing November 1, 2021.

The CBN said that the company’ contributions to economic growth, employment creation, and social impact will be the criterion for participation.

It goes on to say that evidence-based, transparent, and quantifiable criteria would be used to choose the firms.

According to the CBN, the decision was made to provide the groundwork for a rigorous and open process for identifying and selecting high-impact enterprises and projects under the CBN’s 100 for 100 PPP.

“These are initiatives that, in the short term, must catalyze sustained employment-led economic development through higher domestic output and productivity,” the paper states.

The document listed the following:

NEW PROJECTS

The projects for consideration shall be new projects in existing companies requiring new machinery and other support and must have the greatest potential to achieve significant scale in their in-country production and for domestic consumption and exports.

It noted that the broad objective of introducing the instrument was to reverse the nation’s over-reliance on imports, by creating a platform that targets and supports the right companies and projects with the potential to immediately transform and jumpstart the productive base of the economy.

The 100 for 100 PPP, according to the CBN, shall provide naira intervention funding under existing CBN intervention processes and complete foreign exchange funding for new machinery.

“This instrument is for only new projects; will not cover any refinance of existing facilities and will be subject to an independent evaluation by international audit firms,” the document adds.

PUBLICATION OF INTERVENTIONS

All interventions under this project will be made public and published in national dailies.

It listed the key areas of focus the financial instrument would fund to include production efficiency and scalability; local content capacity; job creation and human capital development and contribution to economic growth.

3 YEARS AUDITED FINANCIAL REPORTS

The bank listed historical financial performance — three years of the audited report of the company, viability of the business and creditworthiness of directors as some of the requirements to be considered.

BUY LOCAL

According to the CBN, 80 percent of jobs created by such projects must be for Nigerians while 50 percent of raw materials for the project must be sourced locally.

It said the projects must have an impact on key macroeconomic indicators and global export earning potential, as well as its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) potential, the share of the domestic market, foreign exchange earning potential and ease of exports.

It noted that a highly satisfactory project should meet stipulated requirements by 81 to 100 per cent; a satisfactory project meets stipulated requirements by 61 to 80 per cent; a less satisfactory project meets stipulated requirements by 51 to 60 per cent while an unsatisfactory project meets stipulated requirements by zero to 50 percent.

The CBN said it will work with fiscal authorities to facilitate power sector, port and export reforms as well as ease of doing business to improve competitiveness in Nigeria so as to complement and propel this initiative.

The CBN advised interested companies with satisfactory performance to apply through their banks effective, today November 01, 2021, to the CBN department of development finance, office of the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, central business district, Abuja with complete documentation.