First Bank Leads Efforts For Sustainable Interest In Agriculture

First Bank Nigeria Limited as part of its commitment to support agriculture businesses across the value chain and to play its enabling role in the nation’s drive for economic diversification through agriculture, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, held an inaugural agricultural  expo on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 in Lagos. The Expo was organised under the theme “Reinventing Agriculture for sustainable national development” at the Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The expo was geared at leading a national discourse on a sustainable agriculture value-chain as an alternative source of economic development and foreign exchange earners. Key policy influencers, agriculture service providers, primary producers, exporters and key players in the agriculture value chain attended the expo. The Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural development, Mr. Audu Ogbeh and Honourable Minister for Trade & Investments, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah were special guests of honour at the FirstBank Agriculture expo. The event also featured a C-suite plenary session on the topic “Driving sustainable growth through Agriculture”.

MD/CEO First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Subsidiaries, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan stated that “As a nation builder and key enabler of economic growth, FirstBank is leading the discourse on revitalizing the nation’s agriculture sector and creating value for the agric value chain in alignment with its core strategy of galvanizing thoughts towards rejuvenating the agric business through resourceful diversification that will stimulate sustainable development for both the business and the economy. This maiden expo is in demonstration of our continued commitment to finance agric. Businesses across the value chain as a foremost Agric-friendly Bank of repute.

“We will continue to lead initiatives that support the nation’s vision to work with key stakeholders in building an agribusiness economy capable of delivering sustained prosperity which meets domestic food security goals, generating exports, and supporting sustainable income and job growth”, He added.

The Expo also featured four master classes aimed at providing in-depth exposition on specific areas of Agricultural business. The classes was facilitated by enterprising subject matter experts who will share their success stories and experiences in that business segment. The three master classes are centered on Commodity Export – Opportunities & Challenges; Agro Processing; and Agro Storage Management.