*says loans not national Cake
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The South West Zonal Manager, Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Mrs. Idiat Folorunso on Tuesday advised Nigerians to stop regarding BOA loans as a national cake.
Mrs Folorunso stated this in Ibadan while speaking at a conference tagged “Impact of Agro Allied and Feed Equipment on Agribusiness for National Development” organised by Capsfeed Limited to introduce into the Nigerian market a complete and functioning garri processing line comprising cassava peeler, cassava grater, cassava presser, cassava sifter and cassava fryer.
According to the BOA SW Manager, the bank has disbursed about N4.7billion loans in the South West states including Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti, Oyo and Ondo with beneficiaries of the loans not willing to repay it back
“We are always committed to partner with anyone to take agriculture to a greater height, particularly in the region. Government is really investing in manpower in the organisation to make it the bank more effective. We have disbursed about N4.7billion in the six south west state but our recovery is not fantastic. These challenges are beyond our control but we are determined to ensure compliance”she said.
Mrs Folorunso pointed out that the major challenge facing BOA from reaching more people in the SW region was the refusal of the loans to pay back on time.
“South West is very notorious for loan recovery. People see loan as national cake and they have wrong mindset about repayment. It is not that we are not willing to give loan but some people make it difficult for us to recover the loans. Some people take loans and change their locations, some divert loans despite all our monitoring. Some even sell their farm produce and come up with excuses on repayment but we are ready to recover all the loans”
The BOA Zonal Manager however urged beneficiaries of the loans in SW to return the money given to them so that many people can benefit from the government kinds, assuring that the saying, the “bank is ready and willing to make loans available to deserving members of the public for agricultural purposes.”
