23rd November, 2010
The Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB) will henceforth be known as Bank of Agriculture Limited (BOA), a statement said.
The statement was issued on Monday in Kaduna State by the Public Relations Officer of the bank, Mr Oluremi Olaoye, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
It said the action was aimed at repositioning the bank to become an effective and sustainable national agricultural and rural development finance institution.
It further stated that it was the first step toward a “complete” rebranding of the institution and that the new corporate identity for the institution would soon be unveiled.
The Managing Director of the bank, Dr. Mohammed Santauraki, had on assumption of duty in September, announced the bank’s repositioning agenda.
It included a tripod of modernization, institutional capacity enhancement, and refocusing on the bank’s key mandates.
He also outlined corporate rebranding, enhancement of information technology and upgrading of the working environment and tools as elements of the modernisation programme.
The bank is the nation’s apex agricultural and rural development finance institution.
As a development finance institution, it is wholly owned by the Federal Government with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) controlling 40 per cent shares while the Federal Ministry of Finance has 60 per cent.
The bank was incorporated as Nigerian Agricultural Bank (NAB) in 1973 and in 1978, it was renamed Nigerian Agricultural and Cooperative Bank (NACB).
In 2000, it was merged with the People’s Bank of Nigeria (PBN) and also took over the risk assets of the Family Economic Advancement Program (FEAP) to become Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank.
