EASTERN PROVINCE

NYAGATARE — Ephraim Kabaija, the Eastern Province Governor has called upon the Bank de Kigali to target at least 2,000 clients by the end of 2008 in their Nyagatare branch. The bank that started operations in February 2008, has 142 clients.

Kabaija said this during the official opening of Bank de Kigali Nyagatare branch. The branch is among the eight branches opened to improve the customer services for their clients in the whole country. The other branches include; Kigali, Gitarama, Rwamagana, Butare, Ruhango, Cyangugu and Ruhengeri.

The Governor urged Nyagatare residents to focus on saving for a bright future. The governor said this during the opening ceremony of Bank de Kigali-Nyagatare branch on Wednesday.

Kabaija called upon the district opinion  and church leaders to sensitize the local community on the advantages of keeping their money in the banks.

"You have to volunteer and pass these messages to grass root people who have not attended this function,” the governor said.

"We can’t deploy security personnel to every person in the district who has sold a cow or agricultural products for security purposes but all banks have guaranteed security. So it will be safe for us if we keep our money in banks”, he added.

The Eastern Province governor also called upon Nyagatare residents to open accounts in banks if they are to start profitable projects in future.

Kabaija further urged the residents to use smart cards. He explained that in the modern world people no longer carry money in bulk.

He told the people of Nyagatare that they should start using Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards when transacting money.

The Director General of the bank told The New Times in the interview that their aim is to sensitize the Nyagatare district local community on the services of BK and how they will benefit if they open their accounts with them.

He said they will do it in collaboration with government officials in the district, church leaders and university authorities.

"We are going to work with these people to sensitize our fellow residents on benefits of keeping money in banks. We don’t want our people to keep having the bias on banks; some people still think that when you get money from a bank, the bank will sell their properties. We want remove such biases from fellow Rwandans and focus on economic development”, Gatare said.

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