CBN Guarantees N131bn Loan To Farmers

 

The federal government has ensured a loan assessed at N130.903 billion for ranchers in a bid to help the country's economy.

The loan distribution, we comprehend would be advocated by the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund which is overseen by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

This is as the apex bank challenged ranchers to join hands in rejuvenating the country's $430 billion economy by upgrading value-addition and broadening.

The bank guaranteed that something like 1.232 million loans would be given to ranchers the nation over from the initiative.

We comprehend that the development was revealed at the national award ceremony for the 2021 Best Farmer of the Year Award under the ACGSF held on Thursday in Abuja.

It is worthy to note that the ACGSF was laid out by Decree No. 20 of 1977 and begun activities in April 1978.

It was focused at de-risking with agricultural loans by giving assurances to banks loaning to the agricultural sector and empowering loaning to the farming sector to support its commitment to yield and boost great credit conduct by obligors reimbursing conformably.

As per the Chairman, ACGSF, Mr Stephen Okon, "A sum of 1,232,326 loans esteemed N130.903b were ensured from commencement to May 2022 out of which 973,646 recipients had reimbursed a sum of N98.91b."

He noted that the Federal Capital Territory had from January to May 2022, guaranteed a sum of 82 loans under the scheme, esteemed at N22.580m.

This, as per him, acquired the complete ensured loans in the FCT from the beginning of the scheme in 1978 to May 2022 to 14,258, esteemed at N1.748 billion.

Giving a report on loan recovery, Okon said 11,726 credits esteemed at N801.058m were reimbursed under the scheme in the FCT from origin, noting that the records showed an elevated degree of commitment of the officials in the FCT as well as the determination of the ranchers to use the opportunities presented by the scheme to empower themselves and work on their lots.

"We do hope that before long, participants in the agricultural value chain in the FCT will take advantage of the opportunities provided in the Amended Act," he said.

Okon further said that the scheme was designated at relieving Nigerians from the impact of the worldwide crisis on the economy and supporting the agricultual sector.

"Truly, the Federal Government, through the ACGSF scheme as well as other development finance interventions of the CBN, has continued to promote the quest for the nation to attain food sufficiency," he noted.

The Abuja Branch Controller, CBN, Michael Onyeka Ogbu, said the ceremony was a statement of the apex bank's administration's obligation to supporting hard work, development, and efficiency in the farming value chain.

"To this end, the CBN challenges Nigerian farmers to explore our various agricultural interventions aimed at enhancing value addition to their output towards attaining food self-sufficiency, provision of raw materials to our manufacturing industries and also for export, which ultimately assists in diversifying and improving the foreign exchange earnings base of our economy" he said.