BOI plans ₦1.85tn yearly lending and 3 million jobs by 2027

The Bank of Industry (BOI) wants to lend ₦1.85 trillion a year and support three million jobs by 2027, its managing director, Olasupo Olusi, said on Thursday in Lagos.

Olusi was speaking to media executives about the bank's 2025–2027 corporate strategy. The plan is to double its loan book, its disbursements and its impact within three years.

The targets matter for small businesses and job seekers. BOI is Nigeria's development finance institution, set up to give long-term funding to manufacturers, farmers and other productive businesses that struggle to get affordable credit from commercial banks.

What the bank has done so far

Olusi said BOI disbursed ₦625 billion in 2025, reaching 12,501 businesses and supporting 1.6 million jobs. Leadership reported that this was the bank's highest annual disbursement and a 26 per cent rise from the ₦410 billion lent in 2024.

Small and medium businesses took more than 31 per cent of the funding, while about ₦120 billion went to businesses owned by women. More than ₦180 billion went to infrastructure, including power and broadband for over 700 communities, according to Leadership.

Looking ahead, the bank plans to fund 24,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by 2027. It wants 35 per cent of its funding to go to MSMEs, 15 per cent to women-owned businesses, and 20 per cent of MSME financing to youth-led enterprises.

At least 10 per cent of its loan portfolio is to go to climate-related investments. It also plans to use the $617.7 million Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (IDICE) programme to back technology and creative businesses.

Our mission is very simple. We have to finance what Nigeria makes.

Olusi said the money would go to farming, local healthcare and manufacturing, so that Nigeria produces more of the food and medicines it consumes.

Where the money comes from

BOI is also raising capital abroad and at home. Olusi said the bank raised €2 billion through a 2024 syndicated loan from more than 30 international banks, €110 million from development banks in 2025, and ₦215 billion through a five-year bond in 2026 that was fully subscribed within five working days.

He also mentioned a €75 million facility from Afreximbank for the pharmaceutical value chain, and European Investment Bank credit lines for agriculture and local healthcare manufacturing.

What happens next

The bank says 2026 and 2027 will focus on scaling up to meet the 2027 targets and closing gaps in climate and digital finance. It plans to issue green bonds under a Sustainable Finance Framework and to screen every loan for climate impact.

Note: Leadership reported the 2027 lending target as ₦1.35 trillion, while Nairametrics and Punch reported ₦1.85 trillion.