Nigeria’s Bank of Industry (BOI) set a 2027 annual lending goal of ₦1.85 trillion and aims to finance 24,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) as it targets three million jobs over 2025-27, BusinessDay reported.
Managing Director Olasupo Olusi outlined the targets at a meeting with media executives in Lagos on Thursday. He said BOI would concentrate financing on agriculture, manufacturing, local health care, climate-friendly businesses and technology-oriented companies. Olusi said those priorities are intended to grow domestic production, make long-term capital easier to access and support employment. BusinessDay also reported that the lender is addressing financing gaps tied to climate investment and the digital economy.
Olusi described a three-year 2X goal to double the size of BOI’s loan portfolio, its disbursements and its impact instruments. The strategy has six focus areas, with benchmarks for tracking implementation and progress, BusinessDay reported.
For 2025, Olusi cited ₦625 billion in disbursements, 12,501 businesses reached and 1.6 million jobs created or sustained. He said MSMEs received more than 31% of funding that year, while women-owned businesses got about ₦120 billion, BusinessDay reported.
BOI’s 2025 Annual Development Impact Report gives different totals: ₦644.9 billion in disbursements and an estimated impact on 1.68 million jobs. The employment-impact estimate includes existing positions BOI counted as supported, so it is not a total of newly hired workers. BOI says the ₦644.9 billion went to 7,078 direct businesses; a broader count of 12,501 enterprises includes 5,423 reached through on-lending.
Olusi said BOI used 2025 to establish governance processes, products, digital tools and budgets. He described 2026 as a period to put the strategy into practice and expand it, with consolidation of results and work toward the stated targets in 2027, BusinessDay reported.
