The Bank of Industry (BOI), has threatened to take action against some bakers who refused to pay back the loans they got for the production of cassava composite bread.
The bakers took the loans under the aegis of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN).
Mr Jack Kings, the Regional Manager, North Central Region of BOI, said the bank would take action to recover the loans given to some members of master bakers.
Kings said that the challenge the bank had was the non-payment of loans and issue of selling off the equipment given to them without paying back.
“But for those of the bakers who sold their equipment and are not meeting the obligations, as we said in the meeting in Reiz Continental Hotel, we are going to take more drastic actions.
“We have people that said we do not need the equipment, we did not force it on them, we looked for other bakeries that need it and we did a transfer and they have no issue with payment,’’ he said.
Kings said those who sold their equipment and were owing the bank and their businesses were not doing well, the bank would elongate the tenure of payment for them if they reapplied.
He said that the price of the equipment given to them had already been reduced by over 50 per cent, adding that the reduction would enable them to clear their loans.
He however appealed that those owing to complete their documentation to enable them finalise the issue of working capital.
“Our interest is to see that the business succeeds,’’ he said.
Mr Adeniran Bobby, an Assistance Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) said that members of the association could no longer continue to fight themselves and hope the industry would grow.
He said that from all that was said, there was no fair representations and distributions of the equipment across the geopolitical zones.
“I believe when things are done in the right way, the association will move forward; there is need for all members together to address the issue on ground and proffer solutions,’’ he said.
Bobby said the association needed to review its constitution to address the problems it was facing.
“There will also the need for auditing the account yearly, so that the issues of people moving money from the account without permission can be addressed.
“There is also need to do a wide consultation so that in the future, no individual will be able to manipulate the activities of the association,’’ he said.
He advised that structure be put in place so that it would be difficult for individuals to steal, saying “when loans are being recovered, it will be easy for others to benefit.’’
Mr Jude Okafor, the National Secretary of the association said that in 2015, about 5000 bakers were to be trained and equipped.
“By the end of August of 2015, we were told the money was for cassava bread.’’
He said the that mixer was given to them for N3.5 million and now the price had increased to N4.5 million, the oven was given for N7.5 million then and now the oven was being sold for 14 million.
Okafor said that the members were happy when the equipment were given to them, but it was unfortunate that some members sold their equipment.
“And we are not happy with that because that was not what was signed for.
“A member even sold the oven worth N13 million for N3 million because many of them thought it was free money and I had to go there to tell them that the money was not free and they must pay; that was what brought about the division in the association.
“I believe there is no justification to delay the payment for one minute, if the payment had continued, all other members would have benefited by now.’’
He however appealed to the ministry of agriculture and the bank of industry to waive the interests and help restructure the loans to enable its members pay up.
Okafor said that association was one and not factionalised, adding that the problem was just the illegal activities of four members who failed in the election that made people to start believing that there were factions.
He said that the association was aware of the dangers of allowing defeated contestants to derail the elected persons as it would set a bad precedence if they were recognised.
According to him, the Chairman of the Board of Trustee, other members and elders of the association have made efforts to reconcile the members to no avail.
Mr Dominic Turi, the National President of the association said that there was procedure for sharing of all the equipment as 25 beneficiaries got in each geopolitical zone.
“It was at the point of distribution that we noticed that some people do not have bakery to put the equipment, so we removed their names and that was part of the problem that brought about the division among us.
“We did not allocate the equipment to the bakeries, it was the ministry that did that after several meetings were held to determine who gets what according to their needs,’’ Turi said.
