The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee have agreed to extend lifelines to the Nigerian Aviation and media sectors, to help them overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, governor of the CBN Godwin Emefiele, has said.
Speaking at the start of a meeting of chief executive officers of the banks now held virtually, Emefiele urged them to extend support to the airlines.
“Such support is critical to helping the industry recover from the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The aviation industry is just beginning to restart operations after about five months of shutdown as part of efforts worldwide to contain the coronavirus attack.
On the media industry, he also pleaded with the banks to lend support to the industry to help it cope with the pandemic. He pointed out supporting the media would help prevent job losses in the industry.
The CBN is one of the organizations in Nigeria that mobilized massive resources to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 in the country. It set up an N1.2 trillion intervention fund to render help to some strategic sectors of the economy. Out of this, N1 trillion was dedicated to supporting the local manufacturing sector.
