COVID-19 loans’ll be disbursed 48 hours after approval – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said all successful applicants that have submitted their account details for the COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility should expect to be credited within 48 hours.

The Director, Corporate Communications of CBN, Isaac Okorafor, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

The applicants are households and small and medium enterprises hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CBN,

Okoroafor advised all successful applicants whose accounts had not been credited to visit the website of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank and input their account details.

He said “any successful applicant that does not receive a credit alert within 48 hours” should call for resolution.

He noted that the CBN had waived the requirements for the provision of guarantors by households and small and medium enterprises applying for the facility worth N50bn.

Okorafor said the bank’s move was meant to assuage the concerns of those who had fulfilled all requirements for the loan but were yet to have their accounts credited, particularly as other persons had begun to receive credit alerts.

He reiterated that the palliatives being disbursed were loans and should not be taken as grants.

The apex bank’s spokesman urged eligible households and small businesses to take advantage of the palliative to revive their businesses and contribute to steering Nigeria away from recession.

The CBN had on March 23 unveiled guidelines for the implementation of the N50bn Targeted Credit Facility as a stimulus package to support households and micro, small and medium enterprises hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on the CBN guidelines, eligible beneficiaries of the fund are households with verifiable evidence of livelihood, adversely impacted by COVID-19, and existing enterprises with verifiable evidence of activities, adversely affected by the pandemic.