By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (DBN), Nigeria’s primary wholesale development finance Institution said it has disbursed a total of N482 billion to Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) since inception.
Managing Director/CEO of the Bank, Mr Tony Okpanachi who disclosed this at its AGM at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on Tuesday said 65% of the money was to women and youth-owned businesses.
While presenting the summary of the financial statement for the year ended 31 December 2021 to the Shareholders, the DBN Managing Director informed stakeholders that the fundamentals of the Bank’s financials are robust.
According to him, total Gross Earnings closed at N38.18Billion, Profit Before Tax (PBT) at N22.76Billion representing, an increase of 25 percent from the previous year. Total Assets also increased by 1.4% from N492.3Billion in 2020 to N499.2Billion in 2021.
Okpanachi attributed the Bank’s financial performance to “its robust corporate governance framework, business model as well as its top-notch enterprise risk management coupled with highly committed Board of Directors, Management and Staff, adding that “this is something that I am very proud of”
Continuing, he said, “We continued to focus and deliver on our mandate of providing access to finance through our PFIs to Nigeria’s most critical, but underserved Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises building their capacity and that of the PFIs in addition to the provision of partial credit guarantee to encourage lending to this very important sub-sector of the economy.
“Our cumulative disbursement of N482Billion especially to women-owned or managed businesses; is something that we are particularly delighted about from the perspective of women empowerment and poverty alleviation,” the MD emphasized.
Okpanachi expressed his gratitude to the Bank’s shareholders, development partners, PFIs, Board of Directors, and employees for their continued support with a promise to continue to remain focused on the Bank’s mandate as well as sustain efforts toward achieving sustainable financing and capacity building for the MSMEs.
Kabir Okunlola, a Partner with KPMG Professional Services, the external auditors of the Bank said that the summary of the financial statement of the bank complied with the relevant statutory requirements.
“In our opinion, the accompanying summary financial information is consistent, in all material respects, with the audited financial statements, and also in compliance with the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, as well as the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020,” he said.
