By Chioma Iruke
The Nigerian Government has listed seven criterias needed by investors to access the N250 billion intervention fund for Gas Value Chain businesses.
Ms Brenda Attaga, Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, listed the criteria in Abuja on Sunday when she addressed newsmen.
They include technical feasibility, overall business plan, skills and experience, output of the business plan as they must meet government’s national objective of cresting skilled and unskilled employment.
Another criterion is the social economic impact of the business plan and what percentage of Internally Generated Revenue it would contribute to the state in which the applicant plans to operate.
Others are the financial feasibility of the plan, economic and finance models of the plan and the environmental feasibility of the plan.
Attaga informed that 27 applications had been received and they have obligor limit of N10 billion each.
She added that on the SMEs portion, 50 applications had been received, noting that SME scheme had a limit of N50 million
“In this regard, our evaluation covers seven fundamental areas which must be evidenced by applicants.
“This is because people have sent us all kinds of applications that are not in line with the recommended framework of our evaluation.
“The essence is really for us as a ministry to support the propagation of gas and also creation of jobs through access to financing,’’ she said
She added that SMEs would also follow similar structure, but that start-ups would enjoy some leniency in the financial model.
According to her, SMEs will prove that they are registered in Nigeria; they pay their taxes; prove affiliation to first class companies which are already established businesses with good track records within the gas value chain.
Attaga also said that there was no timeline for applications, but that the fund had a fixed amount.
She noted that preference would be given to indigenous companies as well as gender-based-led companies in the SMEs category.
She said that with the volume of the fund and spread of businesses, it was expected that the scheme would contribute to job creation.
