Akwa Ibom Gov Sacks FADAMA Bank Mgt Over Alleged Fraud

Heads have begun to roll at the top management of the the Ibom FADAMA Micro Finance Bank (IFMB), Uyo, Akwa Ibom, following the sacking of the entire management team of the bank by Governor Umo Eno.

Announcing the decision to sack the management board of the agricultural bank at the Ibom Dialogue forum, which ended Thursday at the Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort, Uyo, the state capital, Eno, said the decision became necessary following alleged involvement of the affected personnel in financial frauds which led to the inability of the bank to assist farmers with funds.

He explained that “the inability of the Ibom FADAMA Micro Finance Bank to achieve its fundamental objective of assisting farmers with credit facilities, and the continuous depletion of share holders’ funds,” compelled him to order the immediate disbandment of the management team “to make way for a functional team to ensure results.”

He said: “I don’t have faith in the present management of Ibom FADAMA, and as long as that management is in place, I will not empower that bank. We need a brand new management that we will be able to work together and link the farmers to the bank.

“We have 496, 000 farmers registered in this state. We can link them to the Bank so that when we release money to the bank, it will go straight to those farmers.”

Towards effective implementation of his administration’s ‘Arise Agenda’, Governor announced the creation of a brand new Ministry of Water Resources and streamlining of others for proper synergy to deliver on the dividends of democracy to the people.

He, therefore, encouraged collaborations amongst Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), explaining that a situation whereby parastatal choose to stand alone, not benefitting from or leveraging on the works of other MDAs would have to be played down to avoid waste of time and resources.

He said: “What I have seen and what we are trying to do in the next four years at least is to make sure that the MDAs don’t build a kingdom around themselves. We would want to break the walls, and let us see that we are working as one state government, addressing one and same goal.

“A situation where several MDAs want to do their own thing and they stand alone, not benefitting or leveraging on the work that has been done by another MDA, I think we will have to play it down a bit because it is a waste of money and waste of time”.