The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) is undergoing a sweeping operational overhaul designed to replace paper-based systems with digital channels, revamp its funding mechanisms, and enhance support for smallholders across the country.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday evening, Managing Director Ayo Sotinrin outlined an ambitious strategy to transition the state-owned enterprise into a modern, full-for-profit development bank. The initiative aligns with long-standing federal efforts to modernise the lender, including a 2017 steering committee aimed at restructuring, recapitalising, and boosting credit access for agribusinesses.
Central to the reforms is a shift away from manual passbooks, ledgers, and branch-based micro-credit to digital banking applications, mobile wallets, and Point of Sale (POS) terminals. Under this framework, government interventions, such as subsidised fertiliser, seeds, and agrochemicals, can be loaded directly onto a farmer’s electronic wallet and redeemed transparently across multiple distribution hubs.
To build the new technological architecture, the bank assembled a specialised team featuring eight Chief Technology Officers from Nigeria’s largest commercial banks.
In addition to digital systems, BOA is introducing a new credit model that disburses funds through farmer aggregation companies rather than directly to individuals, a move expected to lower transaction overheads and raise loan recovery rates.
The bank has also launched the Renewed Hope Smallholder Support and Value Chain Programme, securing ₦250 billion in federal funding to back local agricultural producers. The latest measures build upon the strategic roadmap introduced by Sotinrin upon taking the helm in April 2025, which laid out three core pillars: restructuring internal operations, recapitalising the institution, and driving efficiency to advance national food security.
“One is to restructure the bank, restructuring meaning all the internal workings of the bank or the housekeeping, applying technology and whatnot, and also understanding the mission and the vision. Two is to recapitalise the bank, because without money you can’t do anything,” Sotinrin said.
Emphasising the bank’s shift in identity, Sotinrin noted that the institution must move past operating like a traditional civil service agency while retaining its developmental focus.
“We are a full-for-profit bank, just that we are developmental in nature, meaning we prioritise impact first,” he added.