President Goodluck Jonathan has set in motion a process for the recapitalization and restructuring of the bank of Agriculture, which has been moribund for quite a while and had been unable to discharge its statutory functions.
This is against the backdrop of previous interventions of government in other sectors like the textile industry which did not yield expected results.
The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) Public Affairs to the President , Dr Doyin Okupe who made this disclosure in Abuja Friday, said “President Goodluck Jonathan is taking this personal because of his overwhelming interest in the agriculture sector , and the need to boost food production and other source of income for the nation, diversifying our revenue base outside a mono-product (crude oil) economy”
According to Okupe, President Jonathan has mandated the coordinating minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala to bring together stake holders so as to ensure that ”through the restructuring and recapitalization of the bank,it will be possible for small scale farmers to directly access the loans with minimal bureaucracy ”.
The SSA also disclosed that the government would ensure an interest rate not exceeding 6 percent, is put in place, to serve as an extra incentive.
Okupe said further “the president is concerned and has directed that provisions be made for a moratorium period for repayment between two and three years for those farmers engaged in the production of cash crops like cocoa, rubber, palm kernel, gum Arabic etc.”
Okupe maintained that this is a bold initiative of the administration and underscores the measures of seriousness the administration is paying to agriculture, and it is part of this transformation agenda, and an alternative source of income and drive up the gross domestic product (GDP).