Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday declared that Nigeria would require N770bn annually to close the financing gap in the country’s real sector.

Nigeria’s real sector has its key output industries as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, building and construction, as well as services and commerce.

In his keynote address at the 6th Annual General Meeting of the Abuja Branch of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Osinbajo stated that a recent study indicated that the financing gap in the country’s real sector was huge.

He said, “A recent research carried out by the KPMG on behalf of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council estimated that N770bn would be required annually to fill the financing gap existing in Nigeria’s real sector.

“Therefore, more funding opportunities would be required to meet the needs of the over 40 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises that currently exist in Nigeria. We shall continue to implement initiatives to address this gap.”

The Vice-President, whose speech was read by the Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Olukayode Pitan, stated that the DFIs would provide long- term financing at submarket interest rates to the MSMEs.

According to him, this is key to the growth of the manufacturing sector due to the need for long-term financing and other favourable financing conditions.

Osinbajo said, “Despite the best efforts of these development banks, there still remains a huge financing gap that needs to be filled to impact industry in a profound way.”

The President, MAN, Mansur Ahmed, who was represented by the organisation’s Director-General, Segun Ajayi, called on the governments of Nasarawa, Niger and the Federal Capital Territory to establish an effective consultative mechanism with the association.