MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: State of Ondo, Nigeria, to Provide $1.5m in Subsidized Loans to Individuals, Groups, Cooperatives Under Apalara Micro-Credit Loan Scheme, Mostly to Benefit Women

Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, Nigeria, recently announced the launch of the Apalara Micro-Credit Scheme, which is intended to reduce poverty among people with low incomes. The scheme involves the distribution of NGN 550 million (USD 1.5 million) in loans to individuals, groups and cooperatives at interest rates below 10 percent per year. Of the total amount, 65 percent is to be directed to women.

Governor Akeredolu was quoted as saying, “state government had evolved a well-articulated credit management system…to guide against defaults in order to sustain [the] Apalara loan scheme.”

Ondo is not the first state in Nigeria to support financial services for poor people. For example, Abia State is establishing an agriculture-focused microfinance institution.

By Michelle Fleming, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Vanguard article
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/11/gov-akeredolu-distributes-n55om-to-market-women-artisans-in-ondo/

Business Day article
https://www.businessdayonline.com/news/article/akeredolu-gives-n550million-loan-market-women-artisans/

Nigeria’s Abia State Opening Microfinance Bank to Support Agriculture
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-nigerias-abian-state-opening-microfinance-bank-to-support-agriculture/

Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) data on Nigeria
https://www.themix.org/mixmarket/countries-regions/nigeria

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