By Phil Okose, Onitsha
The chairman, board of directors, Akuchukwu Micro-Finance Bank, Onitsha, Chief Godwin U. Okeke Micro-Finance has said that banks in the country now, not only lament the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, but also the current security challenges rocking the entire nation. He also indicted the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the woes.
Okeke made the indictment while bemoaning the current travails of the industry in the address he read to the shareholders of the bank during the bank’s annual general meeting held at the Archbishop C.J. Patterson International Auditorium, Onitsha, at the weekend.Lamenting how almost all the sectors of the economy had been experiencing disruptions from extraneous factors, especially from the pandemic, Okeke said, “the economic lockdown caused by the pandemic was devastating as businesses, like ours, were very ill-equipped for the disruption of this magnitude and dimensions.The period 2017 to date witnessed very significant fluctuations in the domestic economy which affected, to a large extent, the way we live and spend,” he further stated.According to the board chairman, apart from the unsavoury effects of the coronavirus and insecurity in the country, “there were also the reviewed CBN ‘Guide to Bank Charges’,” regretting how CBN increased Minimum Capital for Micro-Finance Banks in the addition of what he called the imposition of “other stiffer regulations.”He explained that the business atmosphere for the sector was generally harsh.Okeke, however, remarked that, irrespective of the said challenges, the Akuchukwu Micro-Finance Bank towered on and remained resolute on succeeding, saying the bank had consistently added more value to its results for the year under review.He revealed that, in the bank’s efforts towards reversing the effects of the pandemic, it had reviewed and enhanced its digitisation programme to build capacity for remote operations and over multiple online platforms.He assured that with the intensification of the fight against COVID-19 and the stabilisation of the national economies, the bank would continue in her pursuit for growth.“We have positioned the bank to partake in the new ways of doing business and profit from the new opportunities that are turning up.”The chairman expressed optimism that the bank’s digitisation drive would bring results the way the bank wanted.
He told shareholders that, because of the need for the bank to reinvest retained earnings in order to achieve its business goals, the board did not propose any dividend payments for the year.
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Orient Daily, May 17, 2021