The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has urged the new Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Mr Ayo Sotinrin, to ensure the digitalisation of the bank for effective service delivery.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Bola Tinubu, on April 4, appointed Sotinrin as the new Managing Director of the BOA.
Sotinrin is a seasoned finance and agribusiness expert and brings a wealth of experience from both the private and public sectors.
The Southwest Chairman of AFAN, Mr Femi Oke, who commended the President for Sotinrin’s appointment tasked him on the digitalisation of the BoA for increased efficiency.
“It is a good development for President Tinubu to have appointed a new person. What we are asking is that they should move from analogue operations to digital.
“Their system is still an old one which is very slow. If you save there, you cannot withdraw in any other place.
“The new managing director should also expedite the process of loans, so that more farmers can get access to them. Definitely, without soft loans, new intakes cannot come into the sector.
“BoA is basically set up to aid those who are about to go into the sector. So they should prioritise funding for local farmers,” Oke said.
Also speaking, Mr Omotunde Banjoko, an agriculture analyst, urged the new management to update the operations of the bank to a digitalised state.
“The new managing director has been appointed at a very crucial time and the change is really straightforward. The number one thing to be done is that the bank has to be digitalised.
“And the digital transformation will come in different ways. As of today, when you pay money into your account at Bank of Agriculture, you do not get an alert.
“You can only withdraw from your branch and no other branch and customers can pay money into your branch. This means the bank is still operating in the 1940s.
“So, the bank has to be digitalised in its processes and operations. This is what has been scaring a lot of farmers. Now I opened a bank account in Ogun state, I cannot even transfer into the account from my phone.
“I cannot go to any of their branches in Lagos to pay into my account except I go back to Ogun state. That is a major snag the bank is facing.
“So, the bank has to be completely transformed in terms of digitalisation. Although they have on paper 109 branches, but they are spread wide apart,” Banjoko said.
The expert also urged the new managing director to prioritise funding and loans for local farmers to boost the sector’s growth.
“So, in terms of funding, before now, they give below N1,000,000 to farmers. But, through the recapitalisation, even before the former Managing director left, they were giving loans up to N5 million to farmers, and that is fair.
“So, the new management should follow up on that. Even though I thought they should make it N10 million. So, they should make proper funding available for farmers.
“This is what will also transform the sector. So, funding should be prioritised and not politicised. We should focus on that as well and what will make agriculture attractive to young people as well.
“The bank really needs to do a lot of branding work. You enter a BUA branch and you are not sure you are in a bank. You see one or two staff probably sleeping, probably doing their loan and all that.
“So, there is serious branding work waiting for the new managing director. And then, he should engage stakeholders more,” he said.
