BY SIMON NDIVE KALLA
The president of the Board of Directors of SONARA Workers’ Cooperative Credit Union, Nji Ngwa Eric says the General Manager of SONARA, Harouna Bako has promised to bring back the Credit Union to its rail.
He made this revelation on Saturday, February 22, 2024 during the 38th Annual General Meeting, AGM, which held at the Cite SONARA Hall Bota, Limbe.
“The General Manager has engaged to see that they bring SONARA Credit Union back to where it used to be, so payments are coming now regularly and we are happy about that. With that, we can give out loans freely and enough liquidity to meet up with retired member’s savings, something we couldn’t do last year”, Nji Ngwa explained.
He said 64 shareholders joined their union in 2024 but lamented that their shares of FCFA 10, 000, 000 is yet to yield dividends since another group took over UBC.
Nji Ngwa regretted that 2024 has been a tumultuous year in the history of SOWOCCU reason being that he met a precarious financial situation due to mismanagement by previous Board members.
He explained that to bring back sanity in SOWOCCU, the Board appointed a new General Manager, Exedus Andongayuh Mbofei among others, to spearhead the affairs of the Credit Union.
In the domain of savings, he revealed that they experienced a decrease of FCFA 32, 776,813 representing 3.43% in relative terms with 423 daily savers.
Nji Ngwa said 618 loans were granted in the period under review with outstanding loan of FCFA 2, 283, 764, 271 while delinquency loan stands at 48.78 %, higher than COBAC’s 5% norms.
“Loans granted have been a major worry as most are delinquent and some of the contractors are nowhere to be found”, Nji Ngwa lamented.
He also used the opportunity to thank the management of SONARA for the assistance and patronage given to them while reiterating the fact that SONARA has no insurance on loans granted to SONARA workers. He however cited some challenges which include; the need to employ an Assistant General Manager, contractors with delinquent loans, limited office space as plans to expand out of SONARA among others.
“With the difficulties we are facing in courts and the stiffness in competition in micro finance, we’ll not relent our efforts towards the interest and growth of the union” Nji Ngwa assured members.
President of the Board of Directors of SWOCCU PLC Nji Ngwa Eri
Board Chair, NJi Ngwa flanked on the right by GM Exedus Andongayuh Mbofei
Cross section of SOWOCCU stakeholders during AGM