The Chief Executive of Union Bank, Emeka Enuwa yesterday said Union Bank will keep providing agricultural finance to rural farmers adding that as a member of African Rural Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA), the Bank remains committed to providing rural finance in Nigeria.
“At Union Bank, we shall continue to provide credit to the agricultural sector and we encourage the other banks to do the same. We remain committed to driving investment in the agricultural sector as an active member of AFRACA and we urge all participants to align with AFRACA’s vision of a rural Africa, where people have access to sustainable financial services for economic development”.
Enuwa went further to say that Agriculture remains the vital tools that can get the country out of the current depleted foreign exchange stressing that agricultural financing and infractions development must remain an unbroken chain for economic development.
The Union Bank boss stated this in Abuja at a two day workshop on Catalysing the Diversification of the Nigerian Economy Through Effective Agricultural Finance organised by African Rural Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA.)
He recounted that Nigeria was a major exporter of Palm oil, cotton and rubber in the 80s but the oil boom drifted the nation to focus on oil which has now become a commodity with a value that cannot drive the economy, saying that most African countries like Angola that are dependent on oil are also going through the same economic challenge, while urging government to increase funding to agriculture to enable more farmers have access to credits.