Business
GEMS4 Facilitates Business Window In Enugu
As part of its efforts in providing technical and business support to traders, the Growth and Employment in States (GEMS4) Micro Retail Initiative, has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Enugu Amaka Buyers Cooperative (EABC) to implement a wholesale buying model that will help market Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) at reduced manufacture/distributor rates.
The GEMS4 Micro Retail Initiative has been facilitating business opportunities for traders in selected states, and Enugu State is now on the train.
This initiative provides higher profit margins to help the economically challenged rural, sub-urban and urban poor dwellers who have the drive to develop their own businesses.
With more than 100 primary Cooperative societies converged into this secondary cooperative, the Enugu State SME Centre and the Human Capital Development, Poverty Alleviation and Cooperatives are to serve as support teams as major distributors in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in Ogbete, Enugu and other stakeholders in the state are also invited to be members.
In a statement obtained by our correspondent recently, the representative of the Department for International Development DFID-GEMS4, Sheriff Mohammed took the elected, interim executives of EABC through a thorough training an Wholesale Buying Club (WBC) model to enable them coordinate the buying clubs.
The WBC model provides access to markets and aims at increasing incomes and providing employment for poor micro-retailers through a wholesale buying group model.
The model is managed by an apex organization like EABC which creates buyer groups aggregates purchasing power to order stock collectively, this negotiating lower wholesale prices from suppliers of fast moving consumer goods.
Meanwhile, the interim chairman, Mr Roy Mbah and his entourage paid a courtesy visit to a major FMCG distributor, Chief F.C. Chukwu, in Enugu South LGA whom the EABC exco have been linked to.
Credit to Nigeria’s private sector rose to N83.26 trillion in June 2026 from N81.04 trillion in May, signifying a positive balance of N2.22 trillion month-on-month.
Year-on-year, the figure represents a nine per cent increase compared with the N76.13 trillion recorded in June 2025. The latest figures come as the CBN continues to balance efforts to control inflation with the need to support economic growth and expand credit to businesses.
The CBN data shows that credit to Nigeria’s private sector increased by approximately 2.74 per cent month-on-month between May and June 2026. Also, the CBN data noted that credit to the government fell slightly to N40.03 trillion from N40.38 trillion. Other assets, net, dropped to N10.76 trillion from N12.63 trillion.
The credit surge signifies sustained growth in lending to businesses and other private-sector borrowers during the month. The rise in private sector credit was recorded alongside an increase in net domestic credit, despite declines in credit to government and other assets.
Further analysis of the report says that compared with June 2025, private sector credit rose by about N7.13 trillion yea-on-year but net domestic credit increased by approximately N1.87 trillion during the month.
The CBN’s relatively tight monetary policy stance notwithstanding, more banks still loaded funds to the private sector within the period. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held its 306th meeting on July 20 and 21.
The Committee reviewed recent developments in the global and domestic economies, assessed emerging risks to the outlook and considered their implications for monetary policy and retained all rates.
The Committee decided to retain the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5 per cent; the Standing Facilities Corridor around the MPR at +50/-450 basis points and retain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) for Deposit Money Banks at 45.00 per cent, Merchant Banks at 16.00 per cent, and non-TSA public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent.
The MPC decision means that credit extension in the private sector will likely continue to rise because of rising confidence in the sector and calls by stakeholders for banks to invest in the private scetor instead of government securities.
