Insecurity casts blur on Anchor Borrowers’ scheme, as CBN in N379bn debt overhang, repayment prospects bleak

An economist and chief executive officer of SD&D Capital Investment, Gbolade Idakolo said, “The ABP programme is a commendable programme. But the end result has been rubbished by the problem of insecurity arising from the farmers-herders’ crises. “Most of the farmlands have been overrun by herders, which has made the farmers to be unable to repay the loans acquired,” as contained in a report of the Punch newspaper.

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Inset CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele: The ABP scheme is a commendable programme

An economist and chief executive officer of SD&D Capital Investment, Gbolade Idakolo said, “The ABP scheme is a commendable programme. But the end result has been rubbished by the problem of insecurity arising from the farmers-herders’ crises. “Most of the farmlands have been overrun by herders, which has made the farmers to be unable to repay the loans acquired.”

“So, that is why you see that according to the consumer price index just released, food inflation continues to rise because the farmers are not producing optimally and even those that are producing, because of insecurity they are not able to transport their products to the markets where they can be sold. This brings about scarcity which makes the cost of food to increase.”

Between November 2015, when the ABP scheme was introduced, and November 2020, the CBN executed a total of 2.3m projects under the programme and disbursed N497.2bln to farmers.

However, the bank recorded a shortfall of N378.5bn in loan repayment by beneficiaries under the Anchor Borrower’s scheme in six years, data obtained from the apex bank show.

The CBN’s Fourth Quarter 2020 Economic report showed that only N118.7bn had been repaid by the beneficiaries within the review period.

Johnson Chukwu, another expert and managing director at Cowry Asset Management Limited, shared a similar view with Idakolo, adding that without adequate security for farmers, the financing provided by the CBN through the ABP scheme wouldn’t yield significant results in the agriculture sector.

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