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Unity Bank Dragged to Court by Jigna Farms

By on October 3, 2012

Jigna Farms has yanked Unity Bank to the Federal High Court Bwari for allegedly acting in way that denied it from assessing a N500 million loan under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).

The Farm representative stated yesterday in Abuja that, Unity Bank deliberately frustrated their efforts on securing the said loan for its development.

The Farm made clear that, the loan was given to Unity Bank by the CBN for payout but that the bank gave the facility back to the CBN without payment due to its negligence and lack of professionalism.

Jigna Farms, one of Nigeria’s largest fish farms is claiming N1.8 billion in compensation.

Nelson Owoicho, the Jigna Farms Manager, purportedly said: “We are still recovering from the shock.

“Jigna Farms applied for the facility way back in February 2010. Unity Bank took ten months to assess the merits of the application in a process that culminated in approval by the Board of Directors. After an offer that was duly accepted, Unity Bank submitted Jigna’s application to CBN from where the fund was released to Unity Bank in March 2011.”

The statement further supposed that when hard-pressed to let go the funds, Unity Bank told Jigna that their security for the loan was “unacceptable.”

Owoicho elucidated, “Initially we thought this must be some kind of bad joke since ‘acceptability’ of collateral is basic  due diligence on loan applications.

“The bad joke turned into a nightmare when Unity Bank’s demand for ‘acceptable’ collateral dragged on until CBN’s deadline for disbursal was exceeded and the money had to be returned.”

“Subsequently, however, according to reliable sources inside Unity Bank, the matter became the subject of an internal investigation after CBN queried the bank’s handling of this facility. CBN has been consistently publicizing its efforts to contribute to agriculture and food production in Nigeria.”

While communicating disapproval over the mater, Owoicho suspected that the rejection has set the farm back in its resolve to boost its fish production.

“We were devastated. The only plausible excuse is impunity. Typically, Unity Bank has become used to getting away with maltreating customers. We want our action to send out a clear message that only banks who respect customers’ interests deserve to be in banking business,” he stressed.

The farm has pools plus four mega earthen ponds, 44 concrete ponds, 30-tank hatchery and roads value of about N1.5 billion.

It has the competence to produce one million tonnes of table-size of fish year on year.

The farm is of international standard approved by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and by the CBN whom have both recommended the farm at international conferences.