When farmers (borrowers) fail to repay loans, it affects their chances, and that of other farmers (potential borrowers) to access loans in the future.
That was part of the message Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Nirsal Plc, delivered to farmers in Katsina and Sokoto States during loan recovery engagements with maize and rice farmers and community leaders early this year.
This message is, and should sink deep into the minds of Nigerians who at one point or the other obtained or benefited from any of the NIRSAL’s loan schemes which from all purposes and intents are aimed at economic empowerment.
NIRSAL-MFB, a wholly owned corporation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has five strategic pillars of: Risk Sharing, Innovative Insurance Product Development, Technical Assistance, Incentive and Rating.
It was set up to respond to a perennial problem facing Nigeria’s agricultural sector: the reluctance of banks and businesses to lend to the sector in spite of its well-documented, huge economic potentials.
Under the able leadership of Abubakar Abdullahi Kure, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive NIRSAL-MFB has rolled out many intervention packages to assist farmers and small scale business owners to boost their enterprises.
In fact, Kure, the Niger state born astute, result oriented, and widely travelled banker with over 29 years of experience working in the apex bank in Nigeria has been overseeing the affairs of NIRSAL MFB, since January 2020 and shortly after, like thunderbolt, the Covid-19 pandemic stroke.
The loan analysis showed that the
NIRSAL MFB has variously disbursed to beneficiaries N258.167 billion, N112. 203, N14.204 billion, N2.137 billion, N117.485 billion, N33.534 billion and N1.963 billion.
Unfortunately, however, many of the beneficiaries of these loan schemes have not paid back even after the expiration of the moratorium from March 1, 2021.
This is negatively affecting the loans being revolved around, and even hampering the chances the present debtors to get another round of intervention to further developed their businesses.
Those owning should not wait till the NIRSAL-MFB calls them out as it did to others early this month when it published the names of some of the borrowers with the largest Non-Performing Loans (NPL) and insisted that they must pay back the loans.
The Micro Finance Bank in that demand notice indicated that it had reached out to the beneficiaries but they remain adamant, refusing to pay so the fund can be resolved.
“Following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive to NIRSAL Microfinance Bank Limited (NMFB), to recover all non-performing intervention loans granted by NMFB under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (an intervention Scheme of the CBN), NOTICE is hereby given to the under-listed Customers, to offset their indebtedness to NMFB under the said intervention scheme of the CBN.
“Earlier Demand Notices have been issued by NMFB to the last known addresses of the aforesaid Customers, hence, this Public Notice serves as the final demand notice, the release read.
It went ahead and named the defaulters.
But, NIRSAL did not just wake up one day and took the loan defaulters to town there were reminders upon reminders.
As the bank’s boss, Kure had said about the recovery of the loans: “Part of the strategy to make sure that whoever takes our loan repays such loans is engagement. We engage all loan beneficiaries. We undertake constant phone calls, emails, WhatsApp messages, and above all, we do site visits.”
Again, the plea that the beneficiaries pay the loans so that others too can benefit, hence to repeat that: “when farmers (borrowers) fail to repay loans, it affects their chances and that of other farmers (potential borrowers) to access loans in the future.”
Harold Bala Yakubu, the National Coordinator of Young Naija Entreprenovators, writes from Abuja.
