With the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ending all its development finance interventions by the end of this year, more than 4.6 million farmers along with over 1,358 projects that had benefitted from the various initiatives will have to commence the repayment of the over N5.25 trillion loans given out by the apex bank over the years.
CBN Governor, Dr Olayemi Cardoso, had stated his plan to deviate from the path of development finance interventions which his predecessors toed, stating that the apex bank will, under his leadership, focus on monetary policy and advisory roles.
The CBN had delved into encouraging backward integration through the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) that has seen over N1.09 trillion lent to more than 4.6 million farmers all over the country.
In total, the CBN had given out more than N5.25 trillion to individuals and companies of various categories.
According to data sourced from the apex bank, the funds had been disbursed under several intervention programmes such as the ABP, the 100-for-100 Policy on Production and Productivity, the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility, N1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility, Agribusiness/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund (MSMEDF) amongst others.
As of May this year, the CBN under the Real Sector Facility had disbursed a cumulative amount of N2.56 trillion to 462 projects across the country, comprising 257 manufacturing, 95 agriculture, 97 services and 13 mining sector projects.
Aside this, more than 4.6 million smallholder farmers had benefited from the ABP under which a total of N1.09 trillion had been disbursed to farmers cultivating or rearing 21 agricultural commodities on an approved 6.02 million hectares of farmland across the country.
