Gift Joseph Okpakorese
One of the fast-growing industries within the Nigerian economy is the Agricultural sector.
Recall that Nigeria as a nation initially thrived on agricultural products such as Cocoa and Rubber amidst others because, they exported these crops for huge sums of money. However, with the discovery of crude oil and petroleum products, there became a paradigm shift as almost every major business entrepreneur and investor became carried away with the trend of the time. There were so many financial benefits that even most political leaders delved into the business as well.
Recently, however, with the advent of modern alternatives to the usage of petroleum products there seem to be a downward spiral of patronage and usage of crude oil products especially for countries like Nigeria who relied on revenues from these products as global and even local attention is rapidly growing towards agriculture and farming which is also evidently seen in the enormous support and encouragement shown by most state governors who have begun to acquired and build institutions and set up schemes and accessible loans that promotes the growth and development of the agricultural sector within their states.
The banking sector has also begun to see the prospects within the industry as recently seen in the announcement of Access Bank which recently disclosed that it has acquired regulatory approval for its proposed acquisition of Grobank Limited, a South African bank.
According to media correspondence, this declaration was made known to the general public via a statement signed by Sunday Ekwochi, the company secretary, on Friday the 26th of March 2021.
Recall that Grobank, previously understood to be the South African Bank of Athens, is a monetary corporation dedicated to financing the food and agriculture value chain in South Africa and the African continent in general.
Moreover, in September, last year, Access Bank confirmed that it obtained the “approval in principle” of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to restructure into a holding company. The bank further revealed an outstanding agreement with GroCapital Holdings to invest in Grobank Limited over two tranches.
Remarking on the recent development, Ekwochi said that Access Bank has earned the approvals of both South African and Nigerian regulatory sovereignty for its proposed obtainment of Grobank. He continued stating that the growth is a substantial landmark in the transaction, which is anticipated to be finalized in the second quarter of 2021, hopefully.
The firm’s secretary referred to Herbert Wigwe, chief executive officer of Access Bank, as saying the approval is in agreement with the corporation’s vision of evolving as the most reputable bank in the whole of the African continent.
“Today’s announcement represents significant progress in delivering on our strategic intent of becoming Africa’s Gateway to the World in pursuit of our vision to be the World’s Most Respected African Bank,” he said.
“Our presence in South Africa will no doubt accelerate the attainment of our goal of delivering our More than banking promise to 100 million unique customers across the continent. It will also build on our existing foundation and deliver enhanced value to our shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders.”
These reports come as a welcomed development and portray a sign of decent opportunities for the majority of business investments, customers, and partners of Access bank alike.
It is a fact that major achievements are not always gotten on a platter of gold rather, it takes lots of conscious efforts, hard work, and consistency in applying so many reliable alternative and prudent administration to get one’s desired goal.
Hopefully, this would serve as a business model and positive pathway for other banks as well as other major companies and investors, to follow.
