Repay your loans and get more, association tells members

By  Ijendu.Iheaka - Nigeria

October 12, 2016 1:54 pm

 The President, Leather Products Manufacturers Association of Abia State (LEPMAS), Mr Okechukwu Williams, on Wednesday called on members to repay their loans from the Bank of Agriculture to benefit more.

Williams gave the advice in Ariaria, Aba, on Wednesday during the inauguration of the association’s 50-man Loan Monitoring and Recovery Committee.

He said that if the members of the association would borrow funds and repay according to their agreement with BoA, it would make them eligible to borrow bigger sums in the future.

According to him, the timely repayment of the loans from BoA would ensure that more funds were provided to the clusters and the funds recycled at a faster pace to reach all members.

Williams said that the loans would also help the members to collectively source raw materials and reduce cost while improving on their bottom-line.

The LEPMAS president said members desired the funds because making funds available to the leather workers would boost their businesses, improve their profit and help to stabilise Nigeria’s economy.

He said that the Loan Monitoring and Recovery Committee was set up to ensure that the association’s project with the Bank of Agriculture was sustained.

“When we were trying to attract the facility, we said we would ensure that there is no default. So to fulfill our promise, we had to put this committee in place to ensure repayment.

“We have a maximum of 50 in the committee and they are drawn from the benefiting Cooperative Societies within the association and the zones.

“We expect to have 12 persons from the zones and then 30 members from the Cooperatives that have already benefitted.”

He said that the BoA at Obehie was lending N150,000 to all members now but had upgraded the amount to N250,000 for members of two cooperative groups that completed their repayment