The bankers’ committee has unanimously agreed to extend special facilities to Nigerian-registered airlines and the media industry to enable them adequately address the negative impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The committee made the resolution on the prompting of governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele.
Addressing chief executives of banks at the bi-monthly virtual meeting of the bankers’ committee on Tuesday, Mr. Emefiele urged the banks to do all within their powers to support airlines in the country, noting that such support was critical to helping the industry recover from the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Similarly, Emefiele urged the banks to support the efforts of the media industry in Nigeria to cope with the lingering pandemic in order to avoid massive job losses in the industry.
The CBN in the advent of the coronavirus in Nigeria had announced a N1.2trillion intervention fund to support critical sectors of the economy, N1trillion of which was to support local manufacturing sector and to boost import substitution. The remaining N100billion of the intervention fund was to support the health sector in equipping laboratories and enhancing research to produce vaccines and test kits in Nigeria.
The bank also in March unveiled guidelines for the implementation of a N100 billion targeted credit facility (TCF) as a stimulus package to support households and micro, small and medium enterprises affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s move by the CBN and the bankers’ committee is believed to be in the right step following optimism expressed by the Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika who said the ministry was hopeful that businesses in Nigeria’s aviation sector would be given opportunity to access palliatives from the CBN.
With support expected for the media in Nigeria, many media house will be able to weather the storm generated by the coronavirus pandemic.
