Third BOI Board of Directors Inaugurated

The Federal Ministry for Commerce and Industry has inaugurated the third Board of Directors of the Bank of Industry (BOI) Limited towards priming the bank for the strategic role it has to play in the country’s attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Vision 20:2020.
Ms Josephine Tapgun, the minister of State for Commerce and Industry during the inauguration of the nine-member Board that the Federal Government and BOI’s said  shareholders demand strict adherence to relevant laws, regulations and guidelines, especially the Company laws of Nigeria and other prudential guidelines issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Tapgun said the Board would have to ensure that the Bank’s operational strategies are designed to facilitate the rapid achievement of the set targets and that BOI is run strictly along professional lines and also keeps to international best practices.
She reiterated the government's determination to address infrastructural challenges militating against the sustainable growth of the real sector of the Nigerian economy. “The government is resolute in its commitment of the completion of the on-going independent power projects across the country with its multiplier effects on employment generation, poverty alleviation and wealth creation,” she added.
She charged the directors and management to further enhance the capacity of the bank by ensuring that it is propelled to greater heights and also that the board should improve on the achievements of previous boards who had provided financial and technical support to more than 10,000 entrepreneurs.
Expressing concern on the challenges facing the bank and its customers, Tapgun advised the board to initiate credible and sustainable means through which the organized private sector could easily access funds meant to drive the economy.
The membership of the board, according to her, cuts across key stakeholders in the industry with representation from Federal Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, the private sector and Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, chairman Board of Directors BOI, while expressing gratitude to the federal government said that professionalism will be emphasized and that the board will be guided by global best practices in pursuit of the bank’s mandate.
“Both the board and the management of the bank will work together to make a change because if we take wise decisions, and work together transparently, flexibility and honestly, progress in a few areas will lead to progress in many more,” Rabiu stated.
Soliciting for support from stakeholders, he hoped that young industrialists and Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SME) will be assured that BOI is working hard to build a better future for them, adding that the board will serve to the fullest of its capacity and hear the appeals of SMEs.