News in brief: Nigeria’s Bank of Agriculture warns against taking loans for personal expenses and reveals it is owed â¦243 million by 150 debtors since 2011. The bank is seeking to recover the loans and is working with other organisations while lamenting misuse of funds.
Nigeria’s Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has warned against taking loans for personal expenses, as a news report said. The development bank claimed that its Ilorin branch, in Kwara state, was being owed â¦243 million by 150 debtors.
The debt extends from 2011 to 2024 and it is warning people against taking loans for personal expenses like marrying a second wife or throwing parties. It said they will be held accountable for repaying the loans.
The branch manager, Dele Aderibigbe, revealed that the loans were now considered bad debts and called warehouse loans. However, he said confirmed that the institution is still monitoring debtors in the hope of recovering what is being owed.
Aderibigbe added that the bank has sought the collaboration of telecommunications companies and other organisations to help track down erring customers. He described the entire situation of the loans as sad because it should be a revolving system where the paid back loans go to the next person needing financing.
The bank’s executive lamented that some people don’t see taking loans from the institution as a debt to be repaid, instead they view it as a way of receiving their share of the ‘national cake’: a phrase used to refer to funds owned by the country to which every citizen is entitled to. He added that part of the problem was that most recipients use the loan for something different from what they obtained it for.
Aderibigbe maintained that BOA has the capacity to chase and recover funds from defaulters and it is doing this through their guarantors and other measures. He added that these bad eggs are determined to thwart the bank’s committment to improving the lives of Nigerians.
The development bank was established to provide agricultural credit financing to support all activities along the agricultural value chain. It is also tageting support for rural savings, and micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs).
The process of repaying loans to the bank is not cumbersome, the branch manager assured, saying that defaulters chose not to pay back.
