Bank Disburses N814m To Beneficiaries – Manager

The Kano Zone of the Bank of Agriculture disbursed more than N814 million to 6,523 beneficiaries in 2010, says Alhaji Shehu Yero, the Zonal Manager of the bank.

The bank was formally known as the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural development bank (NACRDB).

Yero, who disclosed this to our correspondent in Kano said that the “credit gap” between the demand for loan and the available funds was the greatest challenge facing both the bank and peasant farmers.

Analysing the enormity of the challenge, Yero said that at least N100 billion would be required to disburse to one million peasant farmers.

According to him, nearly 50 million other farmers are in “dire” need of the same facility, while large-scale farmers were the major loan defaulters.

“The repayment of loan by peasant farmers is far higher than that of  big time farmers, some of who are influential and highly educated,” Yero said.

The manager observed that the failure of beneficiaries to repay their loans had limited the capacity of the bank to give loans to more applicants.

He stressed the need for large-scale borrowers to always honour the terms of the loan by repaying in good time to enable other prospective Nigerians to access the facility.

Meanwhile,  the Bank of Agriculture says it is still awaiting the approval of the Board of Directors to effect a change in its logo.

It was formally known as the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB).

The bank’s Head of Corporate Planning, Dr. Mahmud Kolo, told our correspondent in Kaduna on Thursday, that the new name was already in use.

Kolo said that the logo of the bank remained the same until the change was ratified by the board, adding that although all the bank’s corespondences carry its new name, NACRDB was still retained underneath for identification purposes.

Kolo said the bank had completed the statutory requirements and registered the new name with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

When the board ratifies the name, the bank would officially unveil the name and the logo and thereafter effect such change in all its branches.

He appealed to the bank’s customers to bear with the situation for now.