More than Eur150 million has been provided by European Investment Bank (EIB) to support various projects in Nigeria.

Last year, the bank agreed to a EUR 100 million financing deal with MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTN Nigeria) to support the telecoms company’s network expansion programme.

According to information sourced by The Nation through the bank’s site, the bank is working with Access Bank Plc to promote gender loans for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and Midcaps.

The bank said the deal aims to enhance access to loans to private sector entities in Nigeria, mostly SMEs and Midcaps, with a focus on those owned or managed by women.

The EIB loan will be used to finance eligible investments in sectors such as transport, agriculture value-chain, manufacturing, tourism and services.

A minimum of 30 per cent of the loan,the bank said, would promote gender inclusion and women empowerment in businesses.

Apart from this, EIB is supporting the project to increase the manufacturing capacity of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in Africa. EIB financing is put at EUR 14 million, though the total cost of the project at EUR 23 million.

According to the bank, the project concerns the development of an API manufacturing facility for the production of the raw materials for making anti-malarial drugs.

It addresses the market failure leading to under-investment in the production of APIs, mainly due to an underdeveloped market, absence or reduced local skilled labour, and small scale of local manufacturers.

The beneficiary is Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, which has reached an agreement with India’s Mangalam Drugs & Organics Limited, a global leader in API production, to manufacture in Nigeria and distribute APIs for the treatment and prevention of malaria.

which includes on-site support during implementation and operation of the facility.

The bank explained that the project is part of the larger COVID-19 essential API Manufacturing in Africa aimed at increasing the local manufacturing capacity of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

The bank added that the operation aims to improve the availability of pharmaceutical products in the region and to increase the robustness of the pharmaceutical supply chain by reducing dependency on imports.

Proposed EIB finance is put at EUR 50 million, while the total cost is EUR 100 million.

Source: Nation