Nigeria Approves $268 Million to Back Entrepreneurs, Innovators

Dulue Mbachu, Bloomberg News

Pedestrians walk through the Wuse market in Abuja, Nigeria, on Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. Revenue in Nigeria has fallen short of the government target by at least 45% every year since 2015, and shortfalls have been funded through increased borrowing. Photographer: KC Nwakalor/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) --

Nigeria approved disbursing $268 million in funding to support agricultural entrepreneurs and young technology innovators, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said.

One tranche of the funding, worth 90 billion naira ($248 million), will be dispensed by the central bank as “soft loans” for people building small-scale agricultural businesses, while another $20 million will provide funding support to young innovators in technology, according an emailed statement by the presidency.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude producer, is seeking to diversify its economy away from oil dependence by boosting productivity in non-oil industries.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dulue Mbachu in Abuja at dmbachu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Osae-Brown at aosaebrown2@bloomberg.net, Hilton Shone