SMEs, Farmers Decry Challenges Hindering Acess To Loans

Farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs have decried challenges hindering them from assessing loans dedicated to them for the expansion of their farms and businesses at the Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry, and commercial banks.

While speaking at a one-day follow-up workshop on how to write bankable and business plans organised by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council in Ilorin, they listed some factors that prevented them from accessing loans provided by the banks.

The participants said officials of the banks deliberately created stringent conditions which made it difficult for them to access the loans.

Olawoyin Solomon, the Chairman of Nigeria Soyabean Association, who also doubles as chairman of the National Association of Small Scale Industrialists, said that banks, apart from compelling applicants for loans to form cooperative societies, also made their deposit funds as high as N100,000 as initial deposit in their personal account.

NEPC Chief Promotion Officer in Charge of Small And Medium-Scale Enterprises, Oyinkan Duke, explained that the aim of the workshop is to make more farmers and entrepreneurs eligible for loans.