By Abubakar Yunusa
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) is set to make it easier for households and small business who want to aquire solar panels, batteries, inverters, and other green energy equipments by making available loan to the tune of N10 million.
These assets can be acquired through the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Energy Finance Loan.
This loans according to the bank is designed to help homes and small businesses like hospitals, schools, restaurants, bars, stores, hotels, and fashion places keep life and work going by using clean energy.
Managing Director of FCMB, Mrs. Yemisi Edun this is another bold intervention by the lender to unlock the potential of the renewable and clean energy sector, provide relief to Nigerians, and encourage clean energy.
She further said the bank upgraded the product to lessen the impact of reduced subsidies on traditional fossil fuels, which has caused a rise in petrol prices across the country, given the pervasive use of small gasoline generators to power households and small businesses.
Also speaking the Group Head of Business Banking of the organisation, Mr George Ogbonnaya said Energy Finance loan is structured to eliminate challenges faced by households and smal businesses. “ It is a flexible facility with two to seven years of repayment options at competitive interest rates. We urge Nigerians, especially small business owners, to take advantage of this opportunity to reduce energy costs for their homes and businesses’’ he added
Speaking on carbon financing, the CEO of Consistent Energy Limited, Dr. Segun Adaju, said:
“The 2023 Electricity Act promotes private-public sector partnerships, allowing private companies to participate in the renewable energy space and catalyze investments through carbon trading. The carbon trading market has become attractive, and more parties are beginning to promote carbon trading in Africa following the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) established in 2022 to unlock the potential of voluntary carbon markets for financing Africa’s energy, climate, and development goals. It is heartwarming that FCMB has keyed into this by providing a platform through the FCMB Energy Finance Loan product to provide the much-needed funding to Nigerians to acquire affordable clean energy sources’’.
FCMB has taken the lead in deepening the renewable energy space through a three-pronged approach: capacity building, providing access to funding, and opportunities to connect renewable energy developers with end-users.
The Bank has supported over 50% of the key developers in Nigeria with debt financing for mini-grids, commercial, and solar home systems. It has so far disbursed over N7 billion for the execution of energy efficiency projects, cutting across mini-grids, solar energy, and other energy efficiency project.
