The Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), Alhaji Rasheed Olaoluwa, said on Sunday that the bank has disbursed N692 billion as loans to industrialists nationwide in the past 10 years.

The Olaoluwa made this known to newsmen in Ilorin during the pre-inauguration visit of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, to Kam Industries.

Aganga was in Ilorin to inspect the Cold Roll Mill project of Kam Industries.

Rasheed Olaoluwa

Olaoluwa said the bank had financed about 2,000 projects amounting to N692 billion in the last 10 years across the country.

The managing director also said one million jobs were created through the loans accessed by the industrialists.

According to Olaoluwa, BOI is the leading financial institution in the country that provides financial assistance for the establishment of large, medium and small scale projects.

He said the bank had also helped in providing the enabling environment for the expansion, diversification and modernisation of existing industries and rehabilitation of ailing ones.

Speaking after inspecting the complex, Aganga expressed satisfaction with the level of work done so far.

“I want to say that we have come; we have seen and we are completely delighted with what we have seen,” said the minister.

He said Kam Industries would greatly reduce the amount of money spent in importing iron, adding that the nation spent about 3.3 billion dollars on the importation of iron.

Earlier, the Managing Director of Kam Industries, Alhaja Bola Yusuf, commended the minister for the new lease of life his ministry was injecting into industrial development of the country.

Yusuf, however, said there were challenges being faced by industrialisation, which included insecurity and unstable foreign exchange, among others.

She said the complex was an assembly of high technology from 11 countries, including India, USA, Germany, Korea, China, Brazil, Spain, Turkey, Belgium and Egypt.

According to her, the cold Rolling Mill has created employment opportunities for downstream companies in the state.

“With a little addition of equipment we can produce vehicle panel bodies here in Nigeria and a host of raw materials for many companies,” Yusuf said.