The Anchor Borrowers’ Loan beneficiaries who defaulted in repayment of N500 billion may be in serious trouble as the Federal Government is set to recover the outstanding loan
The scheme was floated by the Central Bank of Nigeria to make cash available for increased agricultural production in Nigeria but has run into trouble because beneficiaries fail to repay the loan on maturity thereby holding up government funds and denying others from tapping into the scheme.
Saturday Vanguard reports that out of the N1.1 trillion disbursed by the CBN to the beneficiaries of the ABS since its inception, only a little above N546 billion has been repaid while a whopping balance of N577 billion remains unaccounted for.
The defaulters include commercial and microfinance banks, state governments, farmers’ associations, individuals and corporate entities.
The Federal Governments step to recover the outstanding loan was the feeling of the Presidency that the aim of the programme might be derailed, if the huge cash is not immediately retrieved from the debtors.
Some sources said President Bola Tinubu, who had been briefed severally on the situation, is upset that such amount of money, which could give succor to other farmers, is being withheld by some of the beneficiaries.
There are also reports that the President had summoned top security agencies in the country to take all necessary measures to recover the huge amount of government money from the defaulters on or before September 18, 2023 so as to make the cash available to genuine farmers who want safe loans for more food production.
At a meeting with security agencies in Abuja, the president was reported to have been very upset when he was told that one of the CBN’s subsidiaries was among the defaulting banks, holding up vital cash that was meant for farmers to improve their production and ensure food security in the country.
The president was told that a subsidiary of the CBN and a commercial bank in the country, had diverted N255 million which they were supposed to give out to farmers and others in dire need of loans to improve their production.
At the same time, the apex bank’s subsidiary and a commercial bank in the country which acted as intermediaries between the borrowers and the CBN, are reported to have fraudulently diverted the sum of N255 million, which they secured from the lender but refused to disburse to the borrowers or return to the CBN.
Some of the beneficiaries refused to refund the loan as and when due, claiming that they did not make serious returns on their investments and needed more time to be able to pay back to the apex bank, not minding the terms of the deal they had earlier signed.
