The Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade has commissioned the 15th office of the Bank of Industry (BOI) in the state capital along the popular Marian road, Calabar.
Commissioning the BOI office complex, Ayade said his administration was desirous of moving the economy of the state from third world to first class world economy.
The Governor who was represented by his Deputy, Prof. Ivara Isu said, “this informs the resolved of my administration to encourage industrialists, financial institutions and other investors with private sector friendly initiative to pay active roles in galvanizing the state economy.”
He said the commissioning of the Calabar office is a clear indication of an enduring partnership that will create a huge impact on his administration drive and ultimately, job creation, economic development and sustained socio-economic growth.
The Managing Director/ chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bank of Industry limited, Rasheed Olaoluwa, in his address at the commissioning ceremony said   Cross River State is reputed as the tourist hub of not just Nigeria, but also of the Global Community.
The State is famous for its annual Christmas Festival/Carnival and is endowed with many centres of tourist attraction, prominent among which are the Obudu Ranch Resort and Tinapa Business Resort. The market opportunities that exist in the State are therefore enormous.
This, according to him, is coupled with the fact that the people of Cross River State are renowned for their friendliness, resourcefulness and entrepreneurial spirit. The State is also richly endowed with agricultural and solid mineral resources such as oil palm, cassava, rice, limestone, granite, among others.
Olaoluwa noted that it was worthy of note that the Cross River State Office is BOI’s 15th office in Nigeria.
He however commended Governor, Ben Ayade, for  providing the edifice to serve as the Cross River State Office of the Bank of Industry.
According him, “this is better appreciated when viewed against the fact that entrepreneurs in Cross River State were previously served by our Delta State Office, which is a driving distance of at least six (6) hours.”
Our Correspondent reports that BOI has a N500 million Matching Fund partnership with the Cross River State Government in which each party contributed the sum of N250 million. This pool of funds is for the industrial development of the State, as well as economic empowerment of the people and is provided as loans at a subsidized interest rate of 8% per annum.
As at 30th September, 2015, BOI had approved loans in the sum of N6.9 billion to many enterprises in the State, including such well-known companies a Eastern Premier Feeds Limited, Niger Mills Limited, United Cement Company Limited.
He said the Bank of Industry has adopted a cluster-based SME financing approach in our lending activities by identifying 35 SME Clusters across the country.
Consequently, lending to entrepreneurs in Cross River State will be targeted at SME Clusters in which the State has comparative advantage such as Fish Farming/Processing, Food Processing (Oil Palm Processing, Rice, Yam, Cassava, Water & Beverage Packaging, Quarry Mining, Fashion Garmenting, E-Commerce/Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Leisure Theme Parks), among others.