No fewer than 3,256 persons and small businesses have so far benefitted from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) N50 billion Target Credit Facility to cushion effects of COVID-19.

The Managing Director of Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Mr. Abubakar Kure, disclosed this at the disbursement of the first phase of the facility in Abuja on Thursday.

CBN had in March announced the release of N50 billion TCF stimulus package to support households and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

Kure said that the first batch of beneficiaries had received the facility, adding that subsequent disbursements would be done on weekly basis.

He explained that the idea was to provide cash flow or liquidity in order to mitigate effects of COVID-19 pandemic and help the economy to normalise.

Kure added that businesses and individuals were seriously affected by this deadly virus in the country.

The managing director, who congratulated the beneficiaries, urged them to repay so that others could benefit saying that this was meant to serve as a short term relief for them.

He noted that the process was transparent and accessible to all and sundry and ensured only applicants who were qualified were selected.

He said documentation was one of the challenges of the process but the bank was doing everything possible to overcome it. NAN.