WACOT Rice Opens Union Bank Accounts For 6,000 Kebbi Farmers

By InsideBusiness On Sep 28, 2022

WACOT Rice Limited – a rice processing company and a subsifiary of TGI Group has assisted 6,000 Kebbi state local farmers to open accounts in Union Bank.

Both WACOT Rice and Union Bank are subsidiaries of TGI Group, the owner of Titan Bank Limited that recently acquired Union Bank. The arrangement is under the Kebbi Financial Inclusion Drive (KFID) covers four Local Government Areas of Argungu, Augie, Suru, and Dandi in the state whose farmers are linked to WACOT Rice.

The four local government areas form a critical part of WACOT’s Argungu Outgrower Expansion Project funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) West Africa Trade Hub. This program is expected to resolve the overwhelming financial inclusion deficit within rural communities in Kebbi and also help Union Bank to improve patronage and increase its foothold in the Northern part of the country.

L-R Khadijat Iliyasu, Area Business Executive, Kebbi/Sokoto/Zamfara Union Bank; Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Governor of Kebbi State; Farouk Gumel, Board Chair, Union Bank and Chairman WACOT Rice Limited and Francis Anaemene, Regional Business Executive, North West/East Union Bank during a recent visit to WACOT Rice Mill factory in Birnin Kebbi.

The arrangement is being implemented with technical support from National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), to help the farmers acquire the relevant documentation and identification required to open bank accounts.

Union Bank will facilitate account opening and expand its agency banking network to cover the areas while supporting its agents on ground with digital banking solutions to enable seamless transacting and account management.

Farouk Gumel, Chairman WACOT and Board Chair, Union Bank was on ground in Kebbi State to kick-off the drive and paid a visit to the Kebbi state Governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu to discuss expanding the programme state-wide.

In his recent keynote address at the recently concluded and Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Conference, Gumel said: “As we work towards achieving financial inclusion to reach the unbanked, we must commit the same resources and investments to rural-local customers as we have done to urban-global clients to help create the growth that will lift us all to collective prosperity.”

From L-R Farouk Gumel, Board Chair, Union Bank and Chairman WACOT Rice Limited; Samaila Muhammed Mera, Emir of Argungu and Francis Anaemene, Regional Business Executive, North West/East Union Bank during a recent visit to WACOT Rice Mill factory in Birnin Kebbi.

WACOT Rice is a subsidiary of TGI Group. TGI Group, through another of its subsidiary Titan Trust Bank, recently acquired Union Bank in a landmark transaction which was announced in 2021.

Established in 1917 and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1971, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. is a household name with a branch network of over 300 branches across Nigeria.