NOIC chairman wants CBN’s soft loans for students

CHAIRMAN, Board of Directors of Nigerian Opportunities Industrialisation Centre (NOIC), Lagos, Arch Bishop Magnus Adeyemi Atilade, has appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to make soft loans available for graduates to enable them start up their own business.

Speaking at the 14th biennial graduation ceremony of the centre, where about 100 students graduated, Atilade said CBN should through banks and other financial institutions, make funds available to students to enable them become economically productive.

He said NOIC’s mission was to improve the lives of young men and women by teaching them appropriate and marketable skills that would enable them to be self-reliant.

He said this year’s graduation ceremony was a reaffirmation of the organisation’s commitment to capacity building and service to humanity, through teaching of marketable skills for economic independence and self-reliance of the beneficiaries.

He said, “Our students are well trained and prepared to serve in their various fields of study. Therefore, the CBN, government and corporate organisations should give them opportunity to serve by granting them access to soft loans through the local banks and other financial institutions to enable them set up their own businesses.
“It is crystal clear from recent statistical data released on job creation by the National Bureau of Statistics that Nigeria’s tertiary institutions churn out hundreds of thousands of graduates every year into the labour market, whereas the available opportunities could only absorb less than ten per cent of these job seekers. ’’
While congratulating the graduands for their feats, he urged them to be positively minded in their endeavours.
NOIC, which is an affiliate of Opportunities Industrialisation Centres International (OICI) based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, is registered as a community-based, non-profit, voluntary development organisation.