As security agencies are making effort under the presidential directive to recover the over N1trillion Anchor Borrowers Loans from the beneficiaries, large scale rice farmers accused of loan payment defaults and mismanagement of the funds have denied the allegations and blamed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for failing to direct Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) to take 50percent responsibility of losses incurred by the farmers.
They called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene by prevailing on the CBN and NIRSAL to take necessary action towards properly addressing the issue.
The ABP was funded by the CBN under the suspended governor of the apex bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
The rice farmers said that their members did not default or mismanage the loans but that they have suffered losses running into hundreds of millions of naira on accounts of “insecurity and flooding and that NIRSAL which was created to provide insurance cover for all farmers in the agricultural sector has failed to intervene when farmers raised the issue of losses they incurred as a result of insecurity, flooding and COVID-19 pandemic.
The chairman of the Concerned Rice Farmers of the North-East/Nigeria, Alhaji Mohammed Abba Liman said:”Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and conflicts between farmers and herders, as well as floods adversely affected their yields and harvest nationwide, especially in the North-east, North-west and North-central.
“We appreciate the efforts of Mr. President and align with his policy initiatives in trying to reposition the agricultural sector of the economy and the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) for the purpose of boosting food production in order to enhance national food security.
“We however wish to categorically debunk reports in certain quarters that portray rice farmers in the country in wrong light, especially with regard to the ongoing investigation into the alleged mismanagement of the much commended ABP,” he said.