- Bank Wants Urgent Decongestion of Apapa Port
Earmarks $150m fund for SMEs
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday called on Ecobank Transnational Incorporated to support government’s special intervention scheme in the agricultural sector with special funding scheme that would transform value chain, growth and development for the sector.
The special fund scheme if earmarked the president said, would go along way to cement economic fortunes in the sector and also the bank’s legacy of transformation and prosperity for Agric-Nigeria.
Buhari spoke when he had audience with the board of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, led by the Group Chairman, Emmanuel Ikazoboh on Tuesday in the state house, Abuja. The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele was also in attendance.
The President also said, “If assets and resources available to Nigeria were properly managed, she would be prosperous and peaceful. But the poverty and insecurity we are experiencing today are results of decades of neglect and resource mismanagement.”
But, Buhari said his government was not only determined to reverse the trend of squander-mania and mismanagement and seek new intervention, “we have made progress in agriculture and we need accessible special intervention schemes specifically designed for the sector.”
The President who commended Ecobank for being active in promoting financial inclusion, noted that it is key to the government’s diversification agenda.
The Group Chairman, Emmanuel Ikazoboh, CEO Ecobank, Ade Ayeyemi and Managing Director, Patrick Akinwuntan, urged President Buhari to decongest Apapa ports, address Apapa gridlock, and urgently rebuild transnational Lagos-Badagry-Seme road. They described the port as the center of trade in the country.
The President who responded said, “We are aware and are working in all those areas, and by the grace of God, you will start seeing results during my second term in office.”
Speaking to State House Correspondents on the challenges they want the President to intervene in , the bank chief said: “Well in our speech, we have told him some of the challenges Nigeria and Africa are facing. Like I said earlier on, if Nigeria is sorted out, Africa is sorted out, and some of these challenges are infrastructure, of which they are working on assiduously. Also we are talking about the Seme road because of West African trade route which we think should be given some priority. And to thank him also for the steps he is taking to clear the Apapa Port because that is where trade is coming into Nigeria.”
The bank chief added: “The major problem confronting the bank’s today are the debtors. We have a number of debtors both corporate and individuals, and we need to put in place a framework to ensure that people do not just take loan and not pay back. Banks are under pressure because if you have a lot of unpaid loans, it means you don’t have enough money to also support other borrowings or other small and medium enterprises.”
On what the bank was doing to support SMEs in the country, Ikazoboh said, “we have improved the capital of Ecobank in Nigeria. In the last six months, we have brought in about $150 million all to drive borrowings and supporting the small and medium enterprises.”
The Ecobank Group Chairman said the purpose of their visit was to “congratulate the President on his re-election and to wish him God’s guidance and spiritual protection to continue to lead this nation because we believe that he has the interest of the country at heart and if Nigeria succeeds, Africa has succeeded and being the leader of Nigeria, he is the leader of Africa. Since we are the Pan-African bank, we needed to come and see the leader of Africa.”
Ikazoboh disclosed that the Ecobank Group “with a larger African footprint than any other bank in the world operating in West, Central, East and Southern Africa is the only bank that spans 36 African countries, but operates a truly integrated African network. That is One unified integrated Ecobank Mobile Banking App, that works seamlessly across all 33 operating countries in Africa; One Ecobank Omni and Omnilite serving all Multinationals and SMEs in Africa; One Rapidtransfer app that breaks down country borders and allows the diaspora community send money directly to their loved ones, instantly and affordably across Africa; One Ecobank Online Banking platform that you can access easily whether you are in Abuja or Kinshasha; Ecobank’s unique and largest pan-African platform is designed to help unlock the opportunities of the continent, for the continent, through standardization, fuelling regional integration, and trade and investment across borders”
Further he said due to Ecobank’s sterling performance, it has been severally reconized as Best Digital Bank in Africa – 2017 by Euromoney Awards; Best Retail Bank and Innovation in Banking both in 2018 by the African Banker Awards.
