The Kwara State government has called on the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) to provide long term credits to agribusinesses in order to spur growth and development in the country.
Kayode Alabi, the state deputy Governor made the call recently in Ilorin during a courtesy visit by a delegation from the institute led Anabe Abdulsalam, chairman of Kwara state chapter of the organisation.
Alabi acknowledge the crucial role financial institutions play in the economy, saying that the CIBN Kwara chapter is interested in the growth and development of the state.
He urged the banking institution to provide more long term financing for the agricultural sector which the state has a comparative advantage in its production.
“We believe the way out of poverty in Kwara is through farming and we need the banks to be creative and encourage people to bank with their money,” he said.
According to him, with adequate long term financing, farmers in the state will boost their productivity and expand their production areas.
The deputy governor advised the institute to come up with a single digit loan plan that would enable farmers and other small scale agribusinesses scale.
While pleading for support and cooperation with the present administration and the institute, Alabi noted that kwara could also replicate the rice farming system in Kebbi State if Banks were ready to give maximum support to farmers.
He expressed believe that the state could feed the nation with the right support and encouragement from the financial institutions among others.
Alabi charged members of the Institute not to collaborate with fraudsters and penalise Bank officials that help with financial frauds to holistically end corruption in the Country.
In response, Anabe Abdulsalam, chairman of the Institute, says the visit of the institution was to congratulate and identify with the new administration as well as to pledge willingness to support growth and development in the state.
Abdulsalam described the banks as managers of resources and as a custodian of economic development, while saying that the institute would continue to advise the government on policies that would bring the dividend of democracy to the people of the state.
SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin
