Why Bank of Agriculture is still in distress —Minister

The Bank of Agriculture was still in distress because no concrete effort was made to recapitalise, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, said on Sunday.

The minister said it was disheartening to note that a bank established to cater for the needs of Nigerian farmers was distressed and nothing serious was done to revitalise it.

Nanono disclosed these in a chat with journalists in Abuja.

According to him, the agricultural sector is a major contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and anything needed to reposition it should not be treated with kids’ glove.

He said: “The plan was never beyond newspaper publications. I think there was no serious attempt and personally I think that is not the best approach.

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“The best approach is to look at it properly and reorganise the bank and reposition it.

“If you are to sell the Bank of Agriculture now, you have to look at some portfolios. Its life assets and dead assets and see the balance between the two.

“Can you afford at that point to go to public, and are you going to privatise it? That means selling it at a go or is it going to be partial investment.

“If the private sector is keying into the idea of buying it, obviously, they have to look at the portfolio investment of the bank and to me, it is not a comfortable the position now to go into the financial market for investment.”

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