·Pastor Jonathan Tobin appointed by Gov Fubara
By Ignatius Chukwu
The Rivers State Microfinance Agency (RIMA) which has been off the radar for years may bounce back to public view.
This is because Gov Sim Fubara has approved the appointment of a substantive managing director. He is a pastor, Jonathan Tobin.
A Government House statement Tuesday, October 24, 2023, brought the development to the notice of Rivers people and the general public.
The statement signed by Mr Boniface Onyeadi, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Gov Fubara, said Pastor Tobin has been approved as the Managing Director of Rivers State Microfinance Agency. The statement added that the appointment is with immediate effect.
Silver News Online understands that Pastor Tobin has a background in Agric Economics but was sent to the Bank of Industry (BoI) as Executive Director to manage the CBN N220Bn special fund.
The Pastor takes over from a departmental head that was overseeing RIMA since the removal of Mr Sogules Ipalibo on June 15, 2020, after being appointed in November 2015.
RIMA is indicated as a government agency providing a range of services including financial, business, and social support to institutions such as microfinance banks and entrepreneurs who lack access to adequate income in Rivers State. The agency was formed with the enactment of the Microfinance Agency Law No. 6 of 2008 by the Rivers State House of Assembly to create employment and reduce poverty as well as developing human capacity and instituting a sustainable framework of reaching out to the active poor.
RIMA is on record to have delivered 388 million in micro-loans to about 884 beneficiaries across the state’s 23 local government areas through its partnership with microfinance banks. In 2010, RIMA underwent a restructuring process which was aimed at improving its overall performance.
By the time the second managing director, Innocent Iyalla Harry, handed over on November 20, 2015, RIMA was indicated to have reached over 9,000 clients with a plan to hit 100,000 in next five years.
Harry also issued a handover report that gave almost N1.5Bn as cash balance, an amount his successor (Sogules) disputed.
Sogules was to be sacked and arrested by the governor that appointed him (Gov Wike) thought he was said to have been cleared of the allegations.
The action by Gov Fubara is seen by observers as starting on a clean slate, another opportunity for RIMA and its Microfinance bank to return to the original objectives of the agency, empowering the active poor, creating financial education, and building human capital in Rivers State.
