The Bank of Industry (BOI) has said that it created approximately 2,198,953 direct and indirect jobs across the country. The Chairman of the Shareholders Committee, of BOI, Malam Muhammed Bala, said this at the 64th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held at the Transcorp Hilton, on Wednesday in Abuja. 'In furtherance to its drive to boost job creation through its interventions, the BoI significantly increased its disbursements to large, medium, small and micro enterprises,' he said. He also disclosed that the bank's profit before tax increased from N70.7 billion to N153.81 billion, the highest in the Bank's history. According to the bank, this represents 117.69 per cent. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that BoI has continued its impressive financial performance, showcasing a year of remarkable growth and achievements. This is in spite of the significant global and local economic challenges it faced in the period under review. Bala said that the bank's total assets surged by an impressive 64.6 per cent, escalating from N2.37 trillion to N3.91 trillion. According to him, this underscores the bank's commitment to enhance its financial foundation and expand its capacity to support Nigeria's industrial sector. Bala said the bank's loans and advances increased by 41.5 per cent, rising to N1.14 trillion and N803.6 billion respectively due to increased interventions and disbursements to enterprises. He said this reflected the BoI's ongoing efforts to provide essential financial support to businesses across various sectors. 'The bank's total equity grew by 57.7 per cent from N427 billion to N678 billion, reinforcing the institution's financial stability and capacity for future investments,' he said. On BoI's outlook for the coming year, the chairman said the bank would continue to implement its medium-term corporate strategy for 2022-2024. 'Thereby, effectively sustaining the trajectory of supporting Nigeria's industrial growth. 'This is subsequent to President Bola Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda and in t andem with the National Development Plan (2021-2025). Also speaking, BoI Managing Director, Dr Olasupo Olusi, said during the period under review, the bank had empowered Nigerian enterprises, especially the micro and small ones, to remain in operation sustainably. Olusi said this was done through the bank's disbursement lines and managed intervention programmes. He listed the programmes to include the Smallholder Farmer Financing Product, MSMEs Distributor Finance Programme, Fintech/Digital Lending Product, Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES). He said the Business Resilience Assistance for Value-Adding Enterprise (BRAVE) was also part of the programmes, among others. 'The BoI's continued focus on strategic lending and investment in critical sectors has been instrumental in achieving these outstanding results. 'As the bank looks to the future, it remains dedicated to leveraging its financial strength to support the industrialisation and economic transformation of Nigeria,' h e said. Source: News Agency of Nigeria