The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Hon. Chike Okafor, has described as timely, the planned recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) by the Federal Government.
Okafor who spoke during an oversight visit of the Committee to BOA on Friday, also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint a board for the bank to further strengthen it to provide credit to enterprises and individuals involved in the agriculture value chain.
Okafor stressed that the Committee visited the BOA not only to assess its operations and level of delivery on its mandate but also to brainstorm with the management of the bank on mechanisms to widen access to its services as this would boost food production and distribution as well as aid government’s move to improve nutrition.
“There is no gainsaying that Nigeria is faced with a food and nutrition crisis. This is why the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt.Hon. Tajudeen Abbas PhD inaugurated this Committee in February to join hands and forces with all relevant stakeholders including the Bank of Agriculture to tackle the twin menace of malnutrition and the lack of food.
“We are here to discuss improving funding for food production, the challenges and prospects of BOA and what you have been able to do for those involved in the food value chain so that we can know where we can help you as a Committee”, the lawmaker said.
Also speaking during the meeting a member of the Committee, Hon. Harrison Nwadike, urged BOA to invest in upgrading the bank’s branches and publicising their locations. He noted that many farmers seeking loans to expand their businesses need to be reached and sensitized by the bank.
Earlier in his welcome address, BOA Managing Director Alwan Ali Hassan, said the bank has provided services to customers at its 110 branches across the 109 Senatorial Districts of the country with an extra branch in the FCT.
However, he disclosed that BOA has been run without a board for nine years, a situation which has seen management seeking approval for big loans from the Minister of Agriculture. Hassan also disclosed that BOA is seeking an injection of capital to reposition the bank and improve its loan portfolio for farmers and other players in the agriculture sector.
He said: “The Bank of Agriculture is owned by two shareholders, Ministry of Finance Incorporated and the Central Bank of Nigeria, so all the money the bank has been using is capital from the two shareholders, from 1972 till date.
“We had a board of directors up until nine years ago, it was dissolved and now we don’t have a board till date. This is because the banks in undergoing restructuring and recapitalisation. So BOA has moved from the Bureau of Public Enterprises to the National Council on Privatisation. We hope that one meeting will be held this year to decide the way forward”.
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