Oyo farmers berths microfinance bank

THE Oyo farmers has created an avenue for her members to cross one of the greatest huddles in securing loans from the Nigerian conventional banks by opening their own banks Joint Farmers Microfinance Bank (JFMB) in Oyo town, Oyo State.
A board member of the JFMB, MrMuideen Adekunle, said the initiative was the joint effort of 187 cooperative societies not only to serve the Oyo farmers but to serve farmers in the whole country.
Adekunle who is also current Chairman of Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) in Oyo State, said JFMB was the first of its kind in the country, as the bank has commenced operations in Oyo on Sept. 28.
He said the bank will spread it tentacles across the country having branches in Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi and Abuja and urged farmers to buy shares of the new bank, saying it would serve their interest.
Adekunle who lamented that some individuals in the past had duped Nigerian farmers under the guise of registering them for fictitious loans and grants, said the founders the new bank were people of integrity who had the interest of ordinary farmers at heart.
He promised that the NCGA headquarters will link the Joint Farmers Microfinance Bank to donors, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises programme of the CBN which is presently delivering N220 billion facility, as NCGA was a strong catalyst for the birth of the bank, it would serve all farmers.
Adekunle challenged NCGA members to lead the way by subscribing massively to the N100 million capital requirement of the CBN for the bank to take off fully and said the bank was coming at the right time as agriculture would now be the main pillar of the Nigerian economy given the dwindling revenue from crude oil.