The recent N250,000,000,000 Gas Intervention Fund by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is one of the several financing programmes for a quick economic recovery.
The essence of the gas fund is to support the propagation of gas while creating massive jobs for millions of unemployed Nigerians through access to financing.
Nigeria’s government is implementing other funding programmes under the supervision of the apex, some of them can be found at: https://infomediang.com/cbn-sme-loans-in-nigeria
Economic Goals of The Gas Financial Support
Intervention fund by the Federal Government of Nigeria is an initiative to provide subsidized loans to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) aimed at creating millions of jobs while mostly making credit facilities available at single digit (9% per annum) all-inclusive interest rate
1) To finance the establishment of gas processing plants
2) To financially support the establishment of small-scale petrochemical plants
3) To provide leverage for additional private sector investments in the domestic gas market
4) To boost micro distribution outlets and service centers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales
5) To service the development and enhancement of autogas transportation systems,
6) Aimed at boosting the funding strength of gas cylinder manufacturing plants,
7) targeted at supporting Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) regasification modular systems,
8) To lift the financial capability of automatic conversion kits or components manufacturing plants
9) To boost employment across Nigeria
During the unveiling of the funding opportunity, Ms Brenda Ataga, the Senior Technical Assistant on Gas Development and Investment to the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, stated that “In the Liquefied Natural Gas sector, our job creation plan is looking at a minimum of 750,000 jobs; in the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector, we are targeting additional 250,000 jobs.”
At InfomediaNG, we take a look at how businesses can access the fund and what companies and individuals need to put in place before submitting an application for an interest to be one of the beneficiaries.
Here are 15 key points you need to include in your Business Plan when submitting your application for the CBN N25Billion Gas Intervention Fund
- Evidence of business registration
- Technical feasibility
- Overall business plan on skills
- Experience output of the business plan
- Prove affiliation to first-class companies which are already established businesses with good track records within the gas value chain.
- Business plan must meet Nigeria’s national objective on job creation
- Must show projection for creating skilled and unskilled employment.
- Social-economic impact
- Projected percentage of Internally Generated Revenue to the state of operation
- Financial feasibility of the plan,
- Must meet framework of FG evaluation
- Economic and finance models
- Environmental feasibility
- Evidence of tax payment
- Evidence of tax payment
Evidence of business registration
One of the first steps you must if you want to be one of the beneficiaries of a large-scale credit facility like this, is to make sure your business is legally registered and recognized.
You can do this by setting up an account on the official portal of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) or reach out to an accredited CAC agent to accelerate your business registration.
Technical feasibility
When submitting a business plan for the gas fund, ensure that an area specifically captures in a convincing and marketing way that the product will perform and to verify that there are no production barriers in the implementation process.
This is very important because the aim of the financing is to support companies that will be able to create jobs while contributing to Nigeria’s GDP.
Overall business plan on skills
What’s your expertise in the oil and gas industry? What are the skills on your team that will make sure that the goals of the Federal Government on the Gas Intervention Fund are not defeated?
Putting in mind, you need to set out and let the government know through your business plan your own background and skills and the structure and key skills of your management team.
Don’t forget to identify your comparative advantage in your team and your plans to deal with any potential weaknesses.
Experience output
While startups can also apply for this funding opportunity, it is very important for existing companies to include in their business plan or application what similar projects they’ve effectively executed in the past. Result is key, let it reflect in your business plan.
Business plan must meet Nigeria’s national objective on job creation
The CBN isn’t only dolling out the fund as a father Christmas, it’s a win-win programme. This means that you must be able to give back to the Nigerian society, your community, the state of operation by creating direct and indirect jobs for your host community and state.
Show projection for creating skilled and unskilled employment
Similar to the above important key is your ability to show projection for creating skilled and unskilled employment for the jobless youth or artisans.
Social-economic impact
Submitting an application for the FG’s gas fund means you want to join a list of key players in the gas sector.
As such, you should be able to show the economic and societal impact your company would add to Nigeria’s economy. This way, how do you want to add to individuals, organisations, and Nigeria as a country.
Projected Percentage of IGR to the state of operation
You must show how you want to add economic value to the Internally Generated Revenue to the state of operation. To do this, you must get your projected profit right.
Financial feasibility of the plan
How much exactly do you need to commence operation? What are the returns on investment? And what other financial considerations are you incorporating in your plan.
At the same time, how will the inflow of funds be spent? These are some of the elements of you need to include in your Gas Intervention Fund business plan or application.
Must meet framework of FG evaluation
The gas sector is one of the major focal points and the major source of revenue for the federal government, as such your application must align with the FG’s framework on the gas sector.
Economic and finance models
Your application for the Gas Intervention Fund must include economic and finance models.
According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), it describes “the reality, designed to yield hypotheses about economic behavior that can be tested”
Environmental Feasibility
When it comes to the gas sector, the government is interested in knowing how your company would be able to identify potential issues and threats to the successful completion of the proposed development in the host state.
Again, what are the solutions put in place by your company to mitigate spillage or any other potential environmental issues?
Interest Rate:
9% p.a. (all-inclusive). This means if a loan of N500,000,000 is granted, the obligor N45,000,000 per year
How to apply for gas intervention fund
To access the gas credit facility, here is a simple guide to follow:
- Submit your application through any of the participating banks or NIRSAL (See the list of CRR Contributing Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria through which you can submit your application)
- The bank will forward your application to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources
- Ministry of Petroleum Resources assesses your application to ensure that it complies with the FG’s goal and revert
- If it scales through, the bank would disburse your loan to your bank
- Repayment is also made through the participating bank
Note:
The Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) will guide you appropriately if you qualify for the gas loan
Can still submit an application?
An aide to the minister of petroleum resources, Ms Brenda Attaga, disclosed that 27 applications had been received and they have an obligor limit of N10 billion each.
For the SMEs portion, 50 applications had been submitted. SME scheme had a limit of N50 million
“There is no timeline for applications,” Attage said, noting that preference would be given to indigenous companies as well as gender-based-led companies in the SMEs category.
Our Thought
The good thing about the CBN gas fund is that the government has captured the importance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by being lenient in the financial model provided they provide their evidence of the company’s registration.
References:
- Photo credit: unsplash.com
- National Gas Expansion Programme: cbn.gov.ng/Out/2020/CCD/Guidelines%20for%20National%20Gas%20%20Expansion%20Programme%20Final.pdf
