By Ahmed Rahma
The decision of the management of Ecobank Nigeria Limited to make those in the agricultural sector to have access to credit facility has fetched the company recognitions.
The latest is from the prestigious Business Day’s Bank and Other Financial Institutions Awards (BAFI) awards held over the weekend in Lagos, where the bank won the Agric Lender of the Year 2020 category.
Six financial institutions were nominated for the award, but Ecobank Nigeria was the preferred because of unmatched support for the industry, which has been tipped to be the next oil sector.
The BAFI Awards is adjudged the most rigorous, prestigious and transparent awards programme in the Nigerian financial industry.
Since its inception, Business Day has implemented an audit based approach in the evaluation process, meticulously reviewing shortlisted company’s financial reports, commissioned customer perception surveys, and analysts’ opinions to determine winners in the different award categories.
At the ceremony, the publisher of Business Day Newspapers, Mr Frank Aigbogun, stated that, “Ecobank emerged winner from more than six strong nominees that were vetted, from which three were selected for the judges’ final choice.”
Mr Aigbogun stated that Business Day analysts spent over four weeks assessing the performance of Ecobank and its peers to arrive at its decision.
The publisher also lauded Ecobank’s support for financing rural farmers for food sufficiency, providing employment, creating awareness to showcase the potentials in the sector and partnering government agencies, local and international development partners to develop the agric sector.
Commenting on the award, the Segment Head of Public Sector/AgriBusiness, Mrs Mojisola Oguntoyinbo, noted that, “Earlier in the year, we announced Agriculture Businesses Finance Scheme which will see us commence the disbursement of agriculture loans to practitioners in different value chains in the sector within the next two years.
“We have Agric Schemes to support over 70,000 farmers with special loans to increase their capacity and yields in support of the CBN 2020 wet season programme with the Maize Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MAGPAMAN).
“We are also in partnership with the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) and other developmental partners to double the amount of credit provided to the agricultural sector over the next two or three years.”
Mrs Oguntoyinbo also said the award was well deserved, stating that Ecobank has been at the forefront of financing the entire value chain of agriculture thereby supporting the emergence of new entrepreneurs in the sector.
She said, “As a bank, we are glad that our efforts at developing the agriculture sector of our country are being recognised. This is an encouragement that we should step up our support for the national economy.”
