State governors have accessed not less than N45 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria's Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Fund, while N53bn is currently available for distribution, an official of the bank has said.

At a two-day interactive programme in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, on financial inclusion for traders, the CBN's Head of External Communication, Corporate Communication department, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, described the N220bn fund, at a nine per cent all-inclusive interest rate, as cheap and affordable.

Okoroafor said the uniqueness of the fund was its 60 per cent allocation for women and two per cent for people living with disability, while 10 per cent is for start-ups, otherwise called fresh businesses.

The CBN official, who described Nigerian women as a more reliable group of loan takers when compared with their male counterparts , said women do not default like most men.

"Even if you start small, you can still produce and export and you make more money. And the Central Bank of Nigeria is ready to support you even if it requires you using foreign exchange to produce something that you will export. We will give you access to buy foreign exchange at a reasonable rate. That is the attitude now: produce, add value and export. The 41 items that we have removed from the list from accessibility to foreign exchange means that we are creating an opportunity for people who want to produce and export," he said.

On the issue of some microfinance institutions which allegedly defrauded some traders in form of one ostensible programme or the other that they introduced to the traders, the official promised that the CBN, as the regulator of all financial institutions, would sharpen its regulatory machinery through the relevant department.